<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Hybrid by ArizaLuca</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26129089">Hybrid</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArizaLuca/pseuds/ArizaLuca'>ArizaLuca</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft Story Mode, Minecraft: Story Mode - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Hybrid - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:14:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>178</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>213,898</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26129089</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArizaLuca/pseuds/ArizaLuca</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jesse and the gang are all getting flashes of things they don't remember happening. But maybe it has happened, and maybe it's happened to them. It's just a matter of figuring out what to do about the whole thing. (rated T due to paranoia)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harper/Ivor (Minecraft)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Silence, except for the moaning of the zombies outside of the large, white building. Everything was peaceful, even with the full moon lighting up the scene of zombies ambling aimlessly across the flat terrain, and occasionally bumping into the building.</p><p>Well, it was until the wall exploded outwards. Zombies and rotten flesh went flying everywhere as something darted through the wall.</p><p>"Hurry!"</p><p>The young spider hybrid scuttled out, her extra arms propelling her across the ground at a speed you could never imagine that a human could reach. Her long black hair ruffled in the wind.</p><p>The ocelot hybrid tore into the forest after her, although he was much slower than the quick-moving spider, his tail flapping in the wind. "R-right!" he squeaked, almost landing flat on his face. He didn't often run using all four of his limbs.</p><p>"Guys, we can't wait! C'mon!" a Blaze hybrid practically jet-propelled out of there, the blaze rods surrounding them spinning like a series of blades.</p><p>"We're coming, we're coming!" and the Enderman hybrid teleported next to her, nearly face planting. She didn't often use her powers either, short, curly hair bouncing slightly.</p><p>The one who'd blown the wall up in the first place sprinted after them, panting heavily. For a creeper hybrid, he was already pretty heavily muscled. "G-guys, w-wait up!"</p><p>The five of them kept rushing through the forest, branches, leaves, other mobs batting at them, but they didn't even slow down until the blaze rods vanished, and the Blaze hybrid tumbled onto the ground with a heavy 'uhf!' escaping her lungs, as she rolled several feet, panting heavily, before ending up on her side, breathing heavily.</p><p>Even the spider-hybrid stopped, their faces all shiny from sweating and their chests heaving in an attempt to drag air into their depleted lungs. "Y- you guys okay?" she gasped, her extra limbs retracting so that she looked like a normal girl. The ocelot's ears were hidden by the hair as he adjusted it, the creeper's green skin retracted to under the overlarge green hoodie he wore, and the Enderman's purple eye dulled to almost black.</p><p>The red-haired Blaze hybrid was panting, her breath coming in ever-increasing speed as it grew to hyperventilating. "G-guys," she whimpered, "I-I've got a headache... i-it's getting worse..."</p><p>Suddenly, all of their heads were seized with a splitting pain, and all of them cried out, clutching at their heads in pain. "It hurts," whimpered the creeper hybrid, "wh-why-?!"</p><p>They were all cut off by a wall of unconsciousness hitting them, and they all momentarily jerked, before collapsing onto the ground in pain. The five children momentarily convulsed, until they went completely limp.</p><p>In a certain part of their heads, a small chip sparked before the power died and the light faded.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Memories can be hidden.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But no matter what, they can never be destroyed, no matter how hard you try.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Taken. Hidden. Swept under a mental carpet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But destroying a memory is like destroying nothing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You can't destroy nothing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It would only take 10 years for these memories to resurface.</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Yes, I'm ready," Axel laughed easily, "waiting on you guys." The burly boy wore his thick green sweatshirt that he'd had for what seemed like forever. He hardly ever took the thing off, even to sleep- it was a pretty comfy sweatshirt, from what Jesse could see of it.</p><p>"We'll see you downstairs, okay?" Olivia asked, already halfway through the trapdoor. Her right eye was a slightly brighter shade of black, but all of them always put that down to lighting. Especially since it looked kinda cool.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes. "Okay!" but she was grinning at her two best friends. Her left eye was always a funny color, a darker green than her other eyes, but Jesse thought it was cool- it meant she looked kinda cool (okay, and kinda lopsided) and that meant only good things.</p><p>As the trapdoor shut, Jesse turned away- and then grabbed her head in pain as a gasp was forced out of her mouth. "O-ow.." The headache that seized her head was like none other- for one, it burst out of nowhere.</p><p>Reuben let out a worried squeal as her fingers probed her temples. "I-I-" she stammered, as the world in front of her swayed, bowed, swam in front of her. Blinking did nothing, only made dark spots that grew and grew and covered her vision.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>The trapdoor shut. The little spider hybrid was trembling in fear as the huge monster rose to face her. A monster with three heads.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A monster that spat a fiery skull at her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider-hybrid screamed in terror and lunged sideways, the skull plowing into the stone floor beside her and making a small crater upon impact, before reflexively raising her arm in a blocking motion as it neared her. A strand of sticky string flailed off and tagged the monster, wrapping around it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Automatically, without thinking about it, the spider hybrid started to weave. Her arms moved quickly as she wove together the strings, which trapped the Wither in its sticky grasp, and she cocooned it. She didn't know how she was doing it. She didn't know why. She just moved along with what instincts her body was telling her until the Wither was wrapped in the string tightly, so it couldn't move. The whole room was swathed in white, sticky silk and string, making what looked like the world's most elaborate spiderweb.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She gasped with fear, her lungs dragging in air as she regarded her handiwork, before she crept closer to the monster.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid finally leaned closer to the struggling Wither and sank her teeth into the middle skull.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>At first her small, human teeth slid and slipped off the skull, making a foul taste enter her mouth, but suddenly it connected and sank in, a bit like biting into a jelly donut. A funny sensation filled her mouth, kind of like tingling and a bit of a numbing sensation, along with a sickly, sour, sweet taste in her mouth. The Wither's head jerked, before it exploded into smoke.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid spit, trying to get the taste out of her mouth. Out spattered something that was a dark muddy color, all over the floor, over the Nether Star that had dropped to the ground.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A hand landed solidly on her shoulder, making her cry out in alarm. "Good work. You performed admirably."</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse winced as the images passed, and the headache. "... that was... really weird," she mumbled, rubbing her head, before kneeling down at the chest she'd come to, wincing at the memory of the brief flash of agony.</p><p>What really worried her, though, was that she recognized the spider hybrid, if you ignored the four extra limbs, the fact that it was a little girl, and the fact that the left eye was a glowing, ruby red.</p><p>That little spider hybrid had looked like her.</p><p><em>But I'm not a spider hybrid,</em> Jesse told herself firmly.</p><p>She paused even as she lifted out the flint and steel, and glanced back down at her hands.</p><p>
  <em>... am I?</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Normal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse looked down at herself with a sigh. No extra legs in sight. So, she definitely couldn't be a spider hybrid. Definitely not. Nope. No possible way.</p><p>So why was she carefully patting herself down anyway and just touching her sides lightly just to check? She wasn't a spider hybrid. There was really no need to...</p><p>To...</p><p>Jesse patted herself down again, slowly, her hands slowly moving down her sides again. She looked down at herself again. She felt some slight bumps on her sides- about two on each side. She looked down at herself again and patted it. Yep, no doubt about it- they were there. They were, most possibly, probably,</p><p>"They're not... <em>too </em>noticeable... right, Reuben?" Jesse looked up at her pig with a worried look on her face. Reuben squealed and shook his head seriously at Jesse, who looked down at herself, worried. "Well, I sure hope it stays that way."</p><p>Jesse climbed down from the ladder, a bit faster than she usually did, Axel and Olivia patiently waiting for her. She felt a little guilty for internally freaking out about whether or not she should tell them about the whole thing or... well, you know, not. She'd finally decided not to. "Got everything?" Olivia said, smiling warmly at her.</p><p>"Yeah," and Jesse nodded, her hands crossing behind her back. She felt kinda guilty for not telling her best friends about the whole thing, but she wasn't sure that they wouldn't freak out and attack her. After all, monsters weren't exactly... liked, here.</p><p>"Let's roll," Axel said, waving a bit. Olivia rolled her eyes at the large, burly male. "Yeah, dude- <em>roll.</em>"</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at the two of them, smiling widely. "Let's <em>go</em>," she laughed, voice filled with amusement, shoving the thought as far back as she possibly could.</p><p>That was a problem she needed to worry about in the future. And she wasn't future Jesse right now. So, this wasn't her problem.</p><p>Yet.</p><hr/><p>Axel hadn't been too worried when he'd woken up this morning to find his arms faintly green.</p><p>He'd just figured, oh, he must've accidentally gone to sleep with a bottle of green ink on the bed. That wasn't weird.</p><p>He had MUCH weirder stuff in his bed. Once he'd had a live raccoon on the mattress and nearly gone to sleep on it before it scratched him and darted out of the window.</p><p>Yeah. He still wasn't sure why that had been there.</p><p>So, he'd just figured, okay, he'd wash it off, no biggie.</p><p>Until he'd... realized that the green was more mottled. And, it didn't wash off. No matter how much soap he'd used.</p><p>And yes, he HAD used a lot of soap.</p><p>Actually, if he were being honest, he'd nearly flooded the bathroom with soap suds before realizing he probably shouldn't do that and stopping. And then he'd done a quick cleanup of the bathroom, which mainly consisted of him dumping most of it out the window into his neighbor's yard. No wonder they didn't really like him that much...</p><p>So, he'd panicked a bit and decided to hide it. And, after all, what better to hide it than with his usual hoodie?</p><p>So, he'd pulled it on, and went to go get the box of fireworks.</p><p>I mean, he couldn't just TELL people... not when people reacted to monsters and strange people the way they did... <em>especially</em> not his friends. Who KNOWS how they would react... they'd probably attack him with... I dunno, Jesse'd probably use her wooden sword... which definitely hurt a lot.</p><p>And, okay, if Axel was being completely honest... he didn't want to lose the only friends he had.</p><hr/><p>Olivia didn't feel weird at all. Not in the least. She hadn't even felt odd.</p><p>Well, I mean, she'd moved WAY too fast from her room to the bathroom, but she waved that off as being distracted while going there. After all, it had been at around six in the morning. She was going to be a bit weird about grabbing stuff, probably a bit fuzzy. But still, that had been kinda weird.</p><p>And then on the way to Endercon, she'd tried to grab a random block to move it out of the way, and ended up with the block in between her hands neatly.</p><p>That wasn't weird at all- what WAS weird was how... I dunno, NORMAL it felt.</p><p>It had felt pretty nice, actually, which was really scary to her. Why did THAT feel nice at all? It was just holding a block, that wasn't anything... special or anything.</p><p>Okay, so I GUESS she HAD felt odd... but what was she supposed to say? 'Hey, I'm holding a block, and it feels cool!'</p><p>The only people that held blocks most of the time... and moved them... weren't even people. It was a monster.</p><p>And there was no way that she was going to just go TELL someone that she was feeling like that... especially with her right eye, which had always been kinda bright, getting even brighter than usual. People were going to think she was insane.</p><p>Of course, their reaction to those people never WERE too good.</p><p>And she DEFINITELY couldn't tell Jesse or Axel. They were her closest friends. Who knows how they would react?</p><p>So no.</p><p>She hadn't felt weird.</p><p>Not in the least.</p><hr/><p>Lukas patted his head absentmindedly on the way to Endercon.</p><p>He froze in mid-walk, even as the others chatted and laughed and walked ahead.</p><p>He patted his head again.</p><p>There were two small bumps rising on his head. Not from being injured- no, if it had been from being injured, he would've felt it.</p><p>Well, he said bumps... but, they were more like stubs. They felt a bit like... well, like ears.</p><p>He adjusted his hair nervously. There was no way he had two little... ear-like... stubs on his head. No way. Seeing is believing, and since he couldn't see it, he didn't believe it.</p><p>No matter how many times he told himself that, he found the whole thing just... unbelievable.</p><p>"Lukas?"</p><p>He started violently. Aiden and his friends were looking back at him in concern. "You okay there?" Say what you want about them, they could be jerks, but they were still his friends.</p><p>"Y-yeah. Sorry. Just... lost in thought, is all. Haha." Lukas walked forward, trying to get the thought out of his head and deciding to worry about it later.</p><p>I mean... they were just bumps. Nothing too bad. He didn't have to worry about that.</p><p>And he wasn't going to worry his friends about the whole thing. Especially if they reacted badly. Like... if they attacked him, or something. After all, monsters, and people who were thought to BE monsters... weren't exactly liked. Or, accepted.</p><p>And if that meant denying the obvious, he'd do all of it. Just to keep his friends.</p><p>That was all he ever really wanted, after all.</p><hr/><p>Petra's eyes had always had a gold tint to them. She didn't much mind, especially since they didn't look half-bad, and, okay, if she were being totally honest, looked awesome. Because, they were, they were really awesome.</p><p>However, she drew the line here at a gold arm.</p><p>Petra poked her arm. It DEFINITELY had a gold tint to it. And it seemed a bit stiff and rigid, for some reason. She poked it again. It still felt like skin, but, you know... harder.</p><p>Petra carefully took her sleeve/glove-thing and pulled it up over her arm. Like always, it covered her arm entirely. It looked pretty normal. "Okay... this is okay. It's not a big deal. Probably just because it's one of those days."</p><p>And she almost relaxed at that. After all, she had some days where her arm stiffened up. That was okay. It happened all the time, there was no way she was going to get hurt, on a day like today.</p><p>Almost is the key word here.</p><p>Because it hadn't been this bad before.</p><p>She shook her head. Nope, it was just one of those days. If she stressed about it, she was just going to end up giving herself a headache. And, headaches in the Nether, are bad things. As she'd found out by complete accident. This... mental conversation with herself... it was over.</p><p>And so, she set her pickaxe on her shoulder, took a deep breath, and headed out. If she hurried, maybe she could make it to Endercon and go chat with Jesse for a bit before the competition, and before she had to go head off to go get the Wither Skull.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Trust</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Well, well, well," Aiden sneered, "if it isn't the Order of the Losers."</p><p>Jesse repressed a sigh. Great. On top of freaking out massively about possibly being a spider hybrid, and having to keep her arms at her sides to hide the bumps, she had to deal with these jokers.</p><p>"Lukas," Gill snickered, "get a load of these losers."</p><p>Lukas glanced at Jesse- just for a second- and then walked off, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Let's go, guys."</p><p>As they approached the booth, the lady there said, pleasantly, "Name please?"</p><p>"Axel, and, uh, how do you do?" Axel seemed to be fidgeting with his sleeve more than he did usually, but, that could've just been Jesse's imagination.</p><p>"No, your team name," the lady said, after glaring at them for a moment.</p><p>Jesse was still thinking about her possibly being a hybrid, and she said, absentmindedly, "We're the Bureau of Amalgamology."</p><p>Immediately, she, Axel, Olivia, and Lukas, who was still in earshot, froze stock still as a chill ran up their spines.</p><p>They stood there for a moment, before Jesse relaxed. Where had that name come from? And why had it made that <em>chill</em> go up her back? "Um... yeah, that's- that's our team name."</p><p>"It's an interesting one," Olivia shrugged, "and it's not really like people can make fun of it."</p><p>"Yep," Axel agreed, and Jesse nodded sagely. "E-exactly why I chose it." Of course, she was lying her head off, she'd had no intention of naming her team that and had just been all absentmindedly thinking.</p><p>She gave Lukas a look, as he regained his composure and continued on after his team. Why had HE reacted?</p><p>"Okay, Bureau of Amalgamology, you guys are in Booth 5!" the woman said perkily.</p><p>Axel went first- but he was so muscled that he actually got stuck in the gate, and had to worm his way through. Olivia followed next, and then Jesse, trying to ignore the way the Ocelots snickered at them.</p><p>"Is that a beacon?" Axel moaned, "they have a freakin' beacon?! <em>Freakin'... beacon?!</em>" His voice rose to a nearly hysterical level as Olivia groaned, "That's stained glass. They're not just building a beacon... they're building a rainbow beacon!"</p><p>A short silence as Jesse struggled to think of something to say. "W-we got this, guys," she said finally.</p><p>Olivia threw her hands up in the air, ever the pessimist. "Who are we kidding? We've got nothing."</p><p>Jesse had to think about that for a second. "We've got... a... mascot," she stated finally, making Reuben perk up with a squeal of pleasure.</p><p>Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin. "All right... we should probably stop staring," she stated, just as Gill sneered, "Oh look! It's the Order of the Losers... AGAIN."</p><p>Maya snickered. "Good one, Gill!" she snarked, as Aiden turned around, a smirk coming across his face.</p><p>"We were just looking," Olivia deadpanned.</p><p>"Plenty of time for you all to LOOK at it when it wins and gets shown at Endercon!" Aiden bragged.</p><p>Axel let out a soft hiss. "You're being unpleasant," he said, softly.</p><p>"Well, maybe not ALL of you-" and he leered down at Reuben, "Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink."</p><p>Reuben let out an affronted squeal.</p><p>Jesse's fists clenched, but she didn't remove them from her side. She didn't plan to remove them unless she was having a major problem and needed free movement of her limbs- and unfortunately, Aiden insulting Reuben wasn't one of them, so she just gave him a hard look.</p><p>"I mean, look at him! He looks delicious," and Aiden sneered at Reuben. "I could eat him right now."</p><p>Jesse blinked now, her fists unclenching. "That sounded like a bizarre compliment," she said, slowly. I mean, of course she was offended about Aiden calling Reuben food, but the way he was going about his insults just... didn't seem like insults.</p><p>"You'll have to eat me first," Axel defended, stepping in front of Reuben.</p><p>Olivia avoided eye contact with either. "Um... let's... hope it doesn't come to that."</p><p>"Cut it out, Aiden," and Lukas looked up from the chest, looking a little annoyed, "we have work to do."</p><p>Jesse shot Aiden a smug grin, and Aiden leered back at her. "You're lucky I'm busy."</p><p>Petra walked up now, her left arm hanging at her side casually. "Hey guys," she said lightly, and Jesse's face relaxed into a grin. "Hey, Petra," she said.</p><p>Petra rubbed her left arm a bit, as she arched her brow, "How's the build going?"</p><p>"Only time will tell," Axel said, "but we're optimistic."</p><p>He didn't sound very optimistic.</p><p>"Hey Petra," Lukas spoke up and walked towards the redhead, "I forgot to thank you for that Nether Star."</p><p>Petra smiled a little bit. "Hey Lukas... not a problem-"</p><p>She was cut off by Axel, who burst out, "You HELPED these tools?"</p><p>Petra arched her eyebrow. "For the right price... I'll help anyone." And she walked off towards the forest, saying, "If you need me, you know where to find me."</p><p>"Uh, NO ONE knows where to find you," Olivia corrected the redhead.</p><p>"Exactly," Petra responded, as she disappeared into the trees.</p><p>A soft cough from Lukas. "No hard feelings, guys. If you're cool with Petra," and Lukas batted at a bit of his hair for a moment, "you're cool with us."</p><p><em>By 'us' he means 'me'</em>, Jesse thought, but she didn't interrupt.</p><p>"So... why don't we just forget about all this and.. make this about how cool our builds are?" Lukas offered.</p><p>Everyone looked at Jesse. She was a bit disgruntled, but she pushed aside her anger with Aiden. Lukas had nothing to do with Aiden's being a jerk. And fine, he could be kinda arrogant sometimes, but, he wasn't a jerk.</p><p>So she said, lightly, after a few moments of silence, "May the best team win."</p><p>Lukas perked up when he saw she was willing to cooperate. "Careful what you wish for," he said jokingly, and grinned at her.</p><p>Jesse repressed the grin that threatened to sneak across her face. "We'll see about that."</p><p>Even as she tried to keep the smile off her face, she just got the feeling that she trusted Lukas.</p><p>Wonder what that was about.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Reflex</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Reuben!" Jesse yelled.</p><p>They'd just finished building their Enderman- Olivia looked very pleased about how it looked- and just set off the fireworks, which Axel was happy about, when suddenly a vehement squealing sounded, and Jesse had looked up to see Reuben's Ender Dragon cosplay on FIRE and him running off into the forest.</p><p>"Oh no- Reuben's on fire! Reuben, NO!" she yelled, dismayed, waving her arms furiously and ignoring the fear that they could see the bumps forming on her sides, "come back!"</p><p>Axel hissed angrily. "It was Aiden- that punk!" he nearly spat in anger, gesturing at the dark-haired boy standing near the now-flowing lava, and Olivia shouted out, "The lava's getting closer!"</p><p>"It's gonna destroy the build!"</p><p>"Reuben's gonna get lost!"</p><p>Jesse glanced at her female friend, who avoided her eyes a bit, as usual. "... you guys stay and save the build," she decided, before jumping off of the Enderman, and doing a parkour roll as she landed, plowing Aiden over as she ran into the forest.</p><p>"We'll meet up with you at Endercon!" called Olivia, as they also jumped down to place blocks down and block the lava.</p><hr/><p>Jesse walked through the forest, calling out Reuben's name. For some reason, even though it was getting darker, her vision seemed to be getting a little brighter. She waved it off- right now she had one task, and that was finding Reuben. "Reuben?" she called, holding out the carrot she found and wiggling it in the air, "I got a carrot for ya!"</p><p>Some tall grass shivered, and Jesse started, before leaning closer to the grass. Through the long strands of grass, she could see Reuben shivering with wide eyes. "Reuben! There you are!" she called out, relieved.</p><p>Reuben came out, whimpering softly. Jesse held out the carrot and leaned down. "Hey buddy, ya want a carrot?" she asked, softly, and Reuben let out a happy squeal and munched down on the carrot.</p><p>"Oh, I am <em>so</em> happy to see you!" Jesse sighed in relief, making Reuben grin up at her, "c'mon, we got a long way to-"</p><p>Moans interrupted her, and she looked up to see zombies blocking the way she'd come and lurching towards her.</p><p>"Reuben, run!" And the two of them took off like rockets, sprinting away from the monsters.</p><p>Jesse didn't stop, even as her sides began to prickle. Reuben let out an alarmed squeal all of a sudden, and Jesse looked down at herself. She gasped when she saw that the bumps were bigger and starting to poke out. It was noticeable.</p><p>She bit her lip as she slowed her pace for a second, and the bumps curled in on her sides, making the bumps less prominent. She let out a sigh of relief, before a loud hissing reached her ears and she jerked her head up to come face-to-face with a creeper. "GAH!"</p><p>And the two of them took off again, rushing away before Jesse jumped over a little ledge and said, panting, "I think... I think we're okay..." An arrow impaled itself into the dirt beside her, making her shriek and look up to see a skeleton aiming another arrow at her. She lunged sideways and the two of them ran-</p><p>Into a dead end.</p><p>"Oh no... oh no no..." Jesse mumbled, yanking out her wooden sword. "Stay behind me, buddy."</p><p>Reuben whimpered in fear and shrank down behind her, and she smiled encouragingly at him before letting out an angry yell and attacking the zombies. She managed to take out three, but on the last hit she hit so hard that the blade snapped cleanly in two, the blade doing a 360 in the air before clattering to the ground, exploding into smoke. The hilt followed suit a second later.</p><p>"Stupid- wooden swords!" Jesse snapped, before looking down at Reuben as they kept backing away. "I know it's bad... I'll- I'll think of something."</p><p>She hesitated, before leaning down a bit more and saying softly to her pig, "You're gonna have to make a run for it, okay? I'll meet you back at Endercon. I promise."</p><p>Reuben whined, shaking his head at Jesse, who said, more seriously, "Now Reuben! RUN!"</p><p>Reuben let out a terrified squeal and took off, galloping through the monsters, which grew ever nearer.</p><p>A spider landed on the ground in front of her, and then seemed to hesitate. It tilted its disgusting head as it looked at her curiously, and Jesse blinked at it in surprise, but then a zombie lurched forward, rotting hands grabbing her shoulders-</p><p>"Get <em>off me!</em>" Jesse yelled, pushing and kicking and thrashing, but the zombie's hands were like a vise on the front of her shirt.</p><p><em>So,</em> Jesse thought, even as she kicked and screamed, <em>this is how I die.</em></p><hr/><p>Petra was coming out of the Nether, stuffing her Wither Skull into her pocket with a slight, bemused frown on her face. For some reason, the Blazes had avoided her. Not, that she was complaining, but still- it was weird. At least she'd gotten the Wither Skull.</p><p>And then suddenly she heard a scream. "Get <em>off me!</em>"</p><p>That- that voice belonged to...!</p><p>Petra broke into a run, worry flashing through her as her hands practically strangled her pickaxe handle.</p><p>As she burst into a clearing, she saw Jesse in a zombie's grip, thrashing and kicking and yelling in fear.</p><p>Petra ran even harder, even faster, but she knew there was no way that she'd be able to get to Jesse in time before Jesse was killed by the zombie- the zombie reached down and opened its mouth, mouth poised only inches above Jesse's head-</p><p>"<em>NO!</em>" Both girls screamed the same word at the same time, and both stabbed their hands out reflexively.</p><p>A string of what looked like silk shot from Jesse's hand, and hit the zombie, knocking it backwards. Petra's left arm, the one she'd reached with, glowed red-hot, making her arm tingle rather than burn, and a fireball fired from the center of her palm, shooting like a cannonball or a bullet at the zombie, which had just been knocked away from Jesse.</p><p>The fire speared through the zombie and set it alight, making it grunt in surprise as the fire consumed its rotten flesh. Jesse scrambled backwards and away from the now-flaming zombie, back hitting the dirt wall behind her as she gaped at the zombie.</p><p>"Petra?" she asked, sounding shocked.</p><p>Petra was just as surprised, but she said, in a surprisingly steady voice, "Come on- let's get out of the open."</p><p>She extended her right hand, and Jesse grabbed it and let her heave her to her feet, before the two of them rushed out of the clearing, Petra slashing her way through with her pickaxe, her left arm still feeling uncomfortably warm.</p><p>What in the world had just happened?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Promise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was very quiet in the cave as they walked together. Petra's hand was tight on her pickaxe as she glanced down at the ground, and for once Jesse was at a loss for what to say.</p><p>Finally, like usual, Jesse broke the silence, clearing her throat. "So... um... you- set the zombie on fire. From halfway across the clearing."</p><p>Petra scuffed her feet on the stone a bit, looking down. "Y-yeah."</p><p>More silence. It was heavier than sandbags.</p><p>"... how'd you do it? That was really awesome. I mean, it looked like a fireball, but... I don't know, you can't shoot fireballs. Normal people can't... I don't think, anyway." Jesse's voice sounded a little stilted.</p><p>Petra smiled a little at Jesse's bad joke, but then her smile faded her gaze was still fixed on her boot scuffing along the ground, as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world since Notch himself.</p><p>"Yeah... no, they can't." Scuff. "I don't know how I did it, either, to be honest." Scuff. "I just... reacted, I guess." Scuff.</p><p>"Ah." Petra waited. Jesse said nothing.</p><p>Petra finally lifted her head and twisted to look at Jesse, mouth opening, before pausing, her eyes widening slightly. "Wait... Jesse, what's that on your sides..?" she asked.</p><p>Jesse looked down at herself. Instead of reacting in horror at the fact that there were very pointy bumps starting to stretch her dungarees out, like Petra had expected, she just sighed and the pointy bumps seemed to curl in a little bit. "... Petra, can you keep a secret?" she asked, finally.</p><p>"What do you think?" Petra asked, rolling her eyes, spreading her arms out and making Jesse grin.</p><p>"Okay, I get it. Umm," and Jesse rolled the 'm' around her mouth. "Well, I had this sort of... I guess you could call it a vision, earlier. And it was me. As... a spider hybrid."</p><p>Petra blinked.</p><p>"And at first I thought it was dumb but now-" Jesse was picking up steam now, starting to gesture with her hands and her voice was getting louder, like her usual volume. "I have these bumps on my sides and I shot string out of my hand like frickin' Spiderman or something, and I feel like my left eye is getting even darker than usual, and the bumps are getting bigger, and I can see almost as well in the dark as I do during the day. Maybe better, actually. And now the bumps are getting BIGGER," and she was practically shouting now, voice at the highest pitch it could get without going to hysteria level, "and I actually have to make an effort to hide them and I can <em>move them!</em>"</p><p>At this point, her overly loud, high-pitched voice practically shut off, leaving the last two words echoing in the cave as Petra took in the overly long paragraph that Jesse had just ranted out.</p><p>"Ah." Clear her throat. "Can YOU keep a secret?"</p><p>"If you can keep mine, it's fair that I keep yours," Jesse responded, crossing her heart and then putting a hand over her eye. Petra hesitated at her weird 'oath'... hand signal thing, before nodding. "Okay." And she rolled up her left sleeve.</p><p>Thankfully, Jesse didn't gasp or do anything- that probably would've just made Petra worry even more about the whole thing. She just leaned a little closer to see the now-reflecting-light arm of Petra's. "... that looks like a Blaze Rod," Jesse finally noted.</p><p>Petra cleared her throat again. "Yeah. I think it's a Blaze Rod too." She checked her arm. "Especially since I shot fire out of that arm." Her attempt at a joke fell flat when she saw Jesse's serious face, as the raven-haired girl kept scrutinizing Petra's arm.</p><p>Once Jesse had that face, she meant business.</p><p>Jesse stared at it before looking up at her friend. "Okay. Petra, this is what we're going to do," she said, straightening up.</p><p>Petra blinked again, moving the sleeve back down. "Okay..." She spoke slowly. She wasn't at all sure what Jesse was going to suggest.</p><p>"We swear an oath to not tell ANYONE each other's secret unless all our lives are in danger, somehow. We can divulge it ourselves, but we can't tell ANYONE about the other's secret," Jesse said, sternly.</p><p>"That seems fine," Petra agreed slowly, feeling a little childish at the thing about 'oaths'.</p><p>Jesse held out her hand, and Petra shook the left hand Jesse extended. Then Jesse let go of Petra's hand and crossed her heart before covering her eye again, chanting, "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, a secret's a secret, my word is forever, I won't break my word, I won't break it ever."</p><p>"Haven't heard that version before," Petra said, somewhat surprised at the chanted poem.</p><p>"It's a variant of the very long original poem," Jesse responded promptly. Petra blinked, before slowly repeating the motion Jesse had done. "Um, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye... a secret's a secret, my word is forever, I won't break my word, I won't break it ever," she repeated.</p><p>"There ya go," and Jesse grinned at her friend. Petra slowly grinned back.</p><p>That might've been a rather childish exercise, but it had still made her feel a lot better in the end.</p><p>"So," and Jesse arched her eyebrow now, the bumps curling back in since they'd stretched out again and her arms crossing curiously as she tilted her head. "What were <em>you</em> doing out in the woods, anyway?"</p><p>"Ah," and Petra grinned a little bit, imagining the surprise Jesse was going to get, "since we're on the topic of secrets right now, have you ever seen..." she reached into her seemingly endless pocket, and pulled out the black skull that she had stowed inside earlier, her secretive grin spreading across her face. "A Wither Skull?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Bridge Jumping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Nice!" Jesse exclaimed, eyes wide. She HAD seen one before, when she was... she... was...</p><p>How old had she been in that flashback?</p><p>"Right?" Petra was grinning like the Chesire Cat. "There's this guy I'm meeting up with at Endercon. He's going to trade me a diamond for it," and she stowed it back in her pocket.</p><p>Jesse's lips twisted a bit, dubiously. "What's he gonna do with a Wither Skull anyway? Stick it on his mantelpiece and brag to everyone? I dunno, Petra, it sounds a little shady..."</p><p>"A lot of my deals are shady," Petra dismissed. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure everything will be fine."</p><p>Jesse MEANT to say, "If you say so," but what came out of her mouth instead was a breathless, rather wondering, "Wow."</p><p>Petra twisted to look at Jesse and came to a stop, gold eyes furrowed in confusion. "Wow... what?"</p><p>Jesse hastened to explain. "It's just- in one day, you went to the Nether, and killed a <em>Wither Skeleton</em>- I mean, I DID build a pretty cool statue, but... it's pretty sweet being you, huh?"</p><p>Petra hesitated before saying, tentatively, "You know... you could come WITH me if you want..."</p><p>Jesse felt her eyes widen, and for a moment her worries of being a spider hybrid completely faded away. "You want me... to come with YOU," she said, a little shocked that Petra, the loner, the cool girl with the pickaxe, the girl who really didn't talk to many other people, wanted Jesse- <em>Jesse!</em>- to come with her on this deal. I mean, admittedly, it was a sketchy deal... but she'd take whatever she could get.</p><p>"Consider it my charitable act for the day," Petra joked, her lips twitching into a smile.</p><p>"I'll consider it whatever you want me to consider it," Jesse gushed a little, "so long as I get to come."</p><p>Petra smirked at the raven-haired female as they came to a crafting table with a chest next to it. Jesse blinked. "You just... keep a crafting table down here?"</p><p>"Comes in handy," Petra shrugged. "Since that wooden sword of yours got busted..."</p><p>Jesse looked at the crafting table, then back at the redhead, who'd trailed off. "I can make my own?"</p><p>"Yep- it's always better to make it yourself," and Petra smiled again. "Just get everything you need from that chest over there," and she pointed.</p><p>"Okay- thanks," and with a last smile Jesse walked over to the chest and opened it.</p><p>Petra was not too organized, but it was still pretty easy to see where the stuff was, so after rooting around in the chest for about a minute she managed to find everything she needed. She was juggling the stone around with the stick and trying not to drop anything. "You know, four extra arms would be really useful in this situation," she joked, making Petra snicker a little, weakly.</p><p>Finally, she managed to get everything in place on the table, and the ingredients shivered together before compacting and forming a stone sword, which hovered a little above the table. You know, there was probably some scientific-y mumbo-jumbo about how that worked, but Jesse didn't know it and therefore didn't really care about it.</p><p>Jesse picked it up off the table with a small smile, and Petra grinned at her friend. "See, isn't it better when you make it yourself?"</p><p>Nodding, Jesse sheathed her new sword and grinned right back at Petra.</p><p>"Hey, look," Petra noted as they exited the cave into the cool night air, "Endercon's all lit up."</p><p>Did she dare to hope? Jesse looked over in the direction of Endercon, and was pretty sure her own eyes lit up like fireworks when she saw the different-colored bursts of light over the convention. "No way- we won!" she cheered, "the Enderman was the right way to go."</p><p>Petra nodded at Jesse, smiling at her friend. "Good for you, Jesse," she said, sounding encouraging.</p><p>"It's about time we beat the Ocelots," Jesse continued, putting her hands on her hips. Screw the people who said she was too much like a tomboy, she could be feminine too!</p><p>"You know," Petra said tentatively, "Lukas can be kinda arrogant, but he's come through for me in some tough situations. I'm just saying, you may want to get to know him... just in case."</p><p>"I got that feeling," Jesse said softly, crossing her arms. "I just got this feeling that... I dunno..." Her shoulders rose and then slumped in a little shrug. "I trust him."</p><p>Petra's eyebrow arched. "... think it has something to do with us being hybrids?" she wondered, as they started walking again.</p><p>Jesse let out a nervous little laugh. "Lukas? A hybrid? Nah, he's the most normal person I know... of. I don't know him that well. There's no way-" she was cut off as they reached the center of the bridge by a loud hissing. Both of their heads snapped to face forward as they saw a crowd of creepers slowly approaching.</p><p>"Creepers!" Jesse hissed a little, backing up. Petra turned and groaned. "<em>Crap.</em>"</p><p>Jesse turned to see zombies and more creepers emerging from the cave they'd come from, cutting off their route entirely.</p><p>"Uhh, well, there's only one way off this bridge," Petra said, a bit unsteadily. "Whatever we do, we do it together."</p><p>Jesse swallowed her fear and yanked out her stone sword. "The only way off this bridge, is through them!" she told the redhead, who smiled slightly and drew her own sword, before both turned to face their respective crowds.</p><p>Jesse lashed out with the sword and sent a creeper flying backwards, making sure not to let it explode in her face. There were too many, though. "There's too many!" Petra vocalized what she was thinking.</p><p>"I don't wanna DIE!" Jesse screamed as the creepers exploded, sending both of them flying off the bridge. As they flew through the air, Jesse watched the water rushing up beneath her, and then noticed something in Petra's eyes- faint panic.</p><p>"Can you swim?" Jesse called over the rushing wind.</p><p>Petra swallowed, looking down at the water below her. "Not- not well," she admitted.</p><p>"Neither can I," Jesse admitted in turn. The most she did in the water was stand near the shore. She'd never much liked swimming, but she could float decently well. Petra, though...</p><p>Could a half-Blaze die if they fell in the water? Whatever the answer was, Jesse didn't want to test it out.</p><p>So she yelled to Petra again, "Can't Blazes fly?" They could, right? They hovered, they didn't have legs, they could fly, right?</p><p>"What?! Jesse, you do realize I don't have wings, right?!" Petra screamed back. Yep, definitely panicked now. Jesse wasn't feeling all that confident about falling in the water, either.</p><p>"Blazes don't either! Just... I dunno how Blazes fly, just try to figure it out?!" Jesse asked desperately, looking around. What was SHE supposed to do?</p><p>Petra clenched her fists together and shut her eyes tight. It was obvious to see she was racking her brain the best she could.</p><p>Small, warm sparks started flying off of Petra, piecing together to form golden rods. They were only half-formed, but they were getting close to the water- now or never-</p><p>Jesse shot her hand out, and a long string of silk, like earlier, fired from the center of her palm, catching onto a ledge. It retracted a bit, kind of like a grappling hook, and Jesse's free-fall turned into more of a long swing, slowing her downwards momentum. Maybe she usually would've played around with her 'grappling hook' ability, but right now she was mostly a little in shock from the free-fall.</p><p>She still landed in the water, but it was closer to the shore- enough so that she could stand on her tiptoes and not get submerged, at least. Not like it really mattered- she was still soaking wet from splashing into the water. She managed to detach the spider silk from her hand by tearing it off, but she could still feel some of it inside her palm- kind of like pushing a small metal plate inside her palm, except without the pain.</p><p>Petra's downward descent had also slowed, but she still glided at a rather acute angle before hitting the water, the Blaze Rods evaporating into clouds of steam the moment she did and her arm also steaming.</p><p>Both girls panted heavily, looking at each other, goggling at one another, steam rising around Petra and a trail of silk behind Jesse, floating in the water, water dripping from their hair and clothes that were above the water.</p><p>"... so," Petra finally panted out, as they sort of paddled to stay in place, "that happened."</p><p>And suddenly the two of them couldn't stop giggling.</p><p>Yes, it was nice to not be alone in this, Jesse thought happily as they headed for the shore.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Endercon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Just tell me if you spot Reuben anywhere," Jesse said, looking around for her small pink pig but not finding him.</p><p>After wringing out their hair and shaking out the water as best as they could, they'd started out for Endercon. Over only about the five minute walk, Jesse's momentary enlightenment of her problems disappeared, and now she felt like she was carrying a ten-ton elephant on her chest from how worried she was about the whole thing.</p><p>"He's gotta be around here somewhere," Petra said, sounding concerned as Jesse's slightly differently-colored green eyes roved over the crowds hopefully.</p><p>"So," and Jesse's attention momentarily focused on the redhead, who'd put her glove back on over her gold arm, "when we're making the deal, I need you to... let me do the talking, okay?" and she smiled at Jesse.</p><p>When Jesse didn't immediately respond, her brain still focused on finding Reuben, Petra continued, "I just don't want anything to mess this up."</p><p>"Sure," and Jesse nodded with a small smile at her friend, "I'll keep quiet."</p><p>"And, if you REALLY wanna be useful, try to look intimidating," Petra suggested to Jesse.</p><p>"Petra, I think you should know by now that I don't really do intimidating," Jesse said with a deadpan face, making Petra twist away from Jesse and cover her mouth with a snort.</p><p>"By the way, your eye seems a bit darker... kinda red," Petra noted, when she'd recovered from her momentary laughing fit, straightening back up. "I didn't really notice in the dark... but... well, now..."</p><p>"Oh- got it," and Jesse took the gold barrette out of her hair and let it fall out of it's usual style, one wave of hair covering her left eye- which was the one that was was usually darker- before clipping the right side of her hair and letting the one wave fall in front of her eye.</p><p>Petra raised her eyebrow at the raven-haired girl next to her. "You look surprisingly good with your hair like that," she commented at length.</p><p>Jesse blinked up at her, surprise in her expression. "Umm, thanks," she said, sounding and feeling slightly startled.</p><p>"Jesse!" Jesse turned to see Axel and Olivia race up to meet her. Olivia stopped in her tracks, eyes widening. Jesse'd noticed her right eye seemed a bit brighter than usual, but waved it off- it was just probably lit up from all the lights.</p><p>"And... Petra?"</p><p>Jesse looked over at Petra, who shrugged in return. Jesse looked back at her friends. "Yeah, I- ran into her, while I was looking for Reuben," she said. <em>And we set a zombie on fire</em>, she added mentally.</p><p>"Couldn't find him, huh?" And Axel's face grew more solemn and a little worried.</p><p>"He just has to be here somewhere, I just know it!" Olivia said, apology written in her expression.</p><p>"I saw him," Jesse nodded, "but before I knew what was happening, we were under attack from a zombie horde. I told him to run- it was for his own good." Even as she said that, she felt like she was just trying to convince herself.</p><p>"But hey," Olivia said, overly cheerily, "we won!"</p><p>They all turned to look at the Enderman, everyone else trying not to make 'eye contact' with it even though they knew full well it was a statue (except for Olivia, who seemed to be scrutinizing it more), and Axel said, not as optimistically as Olivia, "Abandoning friends in their time of need paid off once again."</p><p>"I still wish I'd gotten that part in the back to look better," Olivia said, frowning.</p><p>"Guys, I'm PROUD of you," Jesse said, grinning and stepping in front of them, clasping her arms behind her back and quashing down the still-growing bumps.</p><p>Axel smiled a little at his friend. "Aww, shucks," he joked.</p><p>"Don't make me blush," Olivia said, smiling slightly, before her face went more deadpan. "Seriously. <em>Don't.</em>"</p><p>Axel looked over at Petra over the two females' giggles at that. "So, Petra... what were you doing in the woods?"</p><p>Petra and Jesse shared another rather panicked glance. "Nothing... just... drawn by the sound of Jesse's high pitched screams," Petra invented. Jesse nodded and looked back to her friends. "I'd be a zombie if it weren't for her help," she said, sincerely.</p><p>"So... Jesse, it's time to go do that... thing I was telling you about," Petra said, mildly.</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Huh- oh, right. See you guys inside later?" she asked, turning back to her friends.</p><p>"I heard someone was selling cake by the map booth!" Axel responded, and Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin. "Sure. See you later," she said, though she did seem a little hurt. Jesse mouthed to her, "Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes."</p><p>Olivia gave her a thumbs-up and a small smile, before the two of them walked off. Petra watched them go for a moment, before rushing over to Jesse. "Hurry- we're supposed to meet in the alley over there," she said, in a softer, more urgent voice, before pointing at an alley that branched off a bit.</p><p>They walked into the alley, Jesse looking around, half of her mind still fixed on her pet pig. "... it's not that dark," she commented absentmindedly.</p><p>"Really? You must have eyes like a bat then, it's really dim in here," Petra commented, looking around the area and squinting intently, before putting her hands on her hips. In the alley sat a normal-sized chest and nothing else. "That's weird... he said the dark, creepy alley close to the entrance."</p><p>"Are you sure this is the dark, creepy alley he meant?" Jesse asked drily, and Petra frowned, crossing her arms. "Hmmm... I... WAS. Okay, new plan- you stay here in case this IS the spot he meant, and I'll go look around for him."</p><p>"Sure," Jesse agreed with a slight smile, "I'll hold down the fort."</p><p>"Thanks Jesse," and Petra walked back off.</p><p>Jesse looked around the alley, before down at the chest. The dim light shone down on the chest from above, and her hair annoyingly blocked her left eye, so she pulled the hair aside, just for a moment-</p><p>"<em>Ahem.</em>"</p><p>Jesse twisted to her left, even as the ever-growing bumps on her sides curled in response to her sudden apprehension, to see someone crowded in shadow.</p><p>The shadow seemed to start back for a moment. And for good reason. Jesse didn't realize it, but her left eye had turned a shade of blood red and cut through the dim light like a sword through butter, and the dim lighting threw dramatic, warped shadows over her face, making the only feature that stood out on her face the blood-red eye.</p><p>She let her hair fall in front of her left eye again, turning more fully as the shadow stepped forward, revealing a man with long black hair, dark blue eyes, sickly pale skin, and brown robes that seemed faintly tattered. "And just who might YOU be?" he sneered.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Flashback (Again)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I'm- my name is Jesse," Jesse uttered, a bit startled still. Sheesh, she could still feel her heart pounding away in her chest.</p><p>"I'm supposed to meet up with Petra, not with whatever you're supposed to be!" the man snapped at her, dark blue eyes that matched the stone on his belt narrowing at her, "give me one good reason why I shouldn't just walk out right now!"</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath to calm herself down. It didn't really work. "I'm with- Petra," she said, a bit awkwardly. She didn't really know what else to say.</p><p>"My deal's with her, not her partner! ... but, as long as we're here... do you have the skull?" he demanded. Sheesh, bossy much...</p><p>"Petra has it, and she'll be back any second now," Jesse hurriedly tried to calm down the rather angry man.</p><p>He glared at her for another minute before crossing his arms. "Well... as long as she's coming... I suppose it won't kill me to wait a minute longer," he said, rather calmly.</p><p>Jesse let out a breath, and she realized that she'd been holding her breath. No wonder she was starting to feel a little lightheaded.</p><p>An awkward silence settled over the alley, until Petra's voice rang out in the small space clearly. "Ivor!" she called, cutting through the awkward silence.</p><p>"Ah," the man said, his scowl clearing, "here she is."</p><p>"Sorry for being late," Petra said quietly ('technically HE was late, but whatever', Jesse thought), "but... good things are waiting for. I've got what you asked for."</p><p>The man sneered at Jesse, who gave him a deadpan look right back. "You didn't mention you had a partner. And I don't like surprises. Perhaps we should just call the whole thing off!"</p><p>"Where in the world are you going to find someone else who's willing to get you a Wither Skull on such short notice?" Jesse pointed out, suddenly. The thought had just struck her out of nowhere, but from the way he scowled at her she realized she'd just called his bluff.</p><p>She backpedaled- pissing off Petra's buyer was going to do her no favors. "Buuut, I'm cool if he's cool," she piped up.</p><p>Petra looked at Jesse, mouthed 'thank you' so quickly Jesse almost didn't realize she'd even mouthed it, and turned back to Ivor with a smile. "It's settled then- you're both cool."</p><p>"Proceed, then," Ivor said, in a rather silky tone. For some reason, the way he said those two words struck Jesse as particularly ominous.</p><p>Petra reached into her pocket and pulled out the Wither Skull, holding it out in his direction. Ivor took it and began scrutinizing it, a pleased look coming into his eyes. "I'll take my diamond now," Petra added.</p><p>Ivor glanced away from the skull. "Take it. You've earned it," he responded, and the two girls looked at the chest.</p><p>Jesse reached out and shoved it open, eyes widening as she stared. "Um- that's not a diamond!" she blurted, as Petra's deadpan look turned to one of anger. "No- it's <em>lapis!</em>" she reached in and pulled out the lapis. Both of them looked at where Ivor had been a second earlier, but he was gone.</p><p>Jesse glanced at Petra, whose eyes were filled with fire- literally. "Um, Petra," and she pointed at the now-slightly-smoking glove. She was pretty sure spontaneous combustion was not the way Petra wanted to get her anger out.</p><p>Petra looked down at her glove and patted the smoking part out, relaxing a little. The fire was still in her eyes, though, evident by the way her jaw was clenched tighter than a bear trap and the fact that her fists were clenched, nearly breaking the lapis that was still in her hand.</p><p>"Of all the rotten, dirty-" she snarled softly.</p><p>Jesse got up. "We gotta go after him!" she said, and Petra nodded, stuffing the lapis in her pocket, and racing after Ivor. Jesse, who'd never been the FASTEST runner, found herself keeping pace with Petra with relative ease. "Either I'm getting that diamond, or I'm getting my skull back!" Petra snapped.</p><p>"Either that, or we'll beat the tar out of him," Jesse added.</p><p>"EXACTLY," Petra growled, and the two of them burst back onto the main street. "Where did he go?!"</p><p>Jesse felt angry and rather disappointed as she said, a bit hollowly, "We lost him!"</p><p>"Then we'll just have to find him again," Petra said, gold eyes practically flaming, before pointing at one of the streets. "I'll head this way, you go that way!"</p><p>"Fine by me!" Jesse agreed, and both of them rushed towards the respective crowds.</p><p>Once reaching the crowd, Jesse slowed down and started trotting through the crowd at a decent clip. Judging from the buzz of the crowds, she'd just missed Gabriel the Warrior. Usually, she would've been terribly disappointed, but she was more fixed upon Ivor's cheating Petra out of her diamond. And Reuben.</p><p>Her heart sank. She'd actually forgotten about Reuben for a minute, in the heat of the moment. What kind of person was she?</p><p>"Hey."</p><p>Jesse started back a step, looking up from her thoughts, and her eyes locked with the blue (and what seemed slightly green) eyes of Lukas. "Oh- h-hey Lukas," she eked out.</p><p>"'Sup with you?"</p><p>"N-nothing. 'Sup with you?"</p><p>"Nothing. 'Sup with you?"</p><p>"I just said," Jesse said, relaxing a bit from the silliness of the whole thing, "nothing."</p><p>Lukas blushed a bit. "Oh. Oh yeah. You did. ... so, um... congrats on the win." And he smiled at her nervously, his hair seeming to twitch but probably just the lighting. "I mean, I still think our beacon was... amazing, but, good job. I mean, I thought the monster thing was plenty cool, but... fireworks too?"</p><p>"Thanks," Jesse said, a bit taken aback. Lukas usually didn't even speak to her... at all, really. And now he was complimenting her build. "Your- rainbow beacon wasn't too shabby," and she grinned to show she meant no harm.</p><p>"You don't have to do that, okay?" And he smiled at her again. "You guys won, fair and square."</p><p>"Your friend hurt my pig," Jesse pointed out, quietly.</p><p>Lukas' face went a little deadpan. "Yeah. I know. But I swear, I had nothing to do with that."</p><p>"No, no... I believe you. Aiden's just... kind of a jerk," Jesse crossed her arms and looked down at the ground, her voice even quieter than before. "He's still missing, you know."</p><p>Lukas's face went a bit more solemn. "Is that why you were looking all sad a minute ago?"</p><p>Jesse looked down at her feet. "Yeah..."</p><p>"I'm sorry about that."</p><p>"It's- it's not your fault." Admittedly, this conversation was pretty nice. Even though she was conversing with someone who was her rival.</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before shoving her hands in her pockets. "Um, did you see this kinda creepy looking guy... with a beard and this weird belt? About yea tall?" She motioned with her hands.</p><p>Lukas thought for a minute. "Umm, I don't think so," he said, "why?"</p><p>"He kinda scammed Petra out of a diamond earlier," Jesse said, taking her hands back out and fidgeting with the threads on her overalls.</p><p>Lukas's eyes widened. "Whoa- everyone knows you don't mess with Petra. Not if you know what's good for you."</p><p>"I know, right?" Jesse chuckled a bit, and he chuckled a little too. It felt... familiar, somehow.</p><p>Suddenly, a splitting pain hit her head, and Jesse grabbed her forehead. "Ahh!"</p><p>Lukas's hand had flown to his forehead as well, and his eyes were squinted shut.</p><hr/><p>"<em>W</em><em>hat are you doing?"</em></p><p>
  <em>The ocelot hybrid lay on his stomach in the white room, bluish green eyes dull with boredom. "Being bored," he said hollowly. It was evident that he'd already sharpened his claws from the claw marks in front of him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid hesitated, before going over to the ocelot and sitting next to him, before starting to rub his head, being careful not to rub his hair the wrong way.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>For a minute he didn't seem to notice, except for his eyes flicking up to the spider hybrid. "What are you doing?" he asked at length, tail flicking a little, though in agitation or pleasure it was hard to tell.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'm petting you. Cats like to be petted, right?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He opened his mouth, and then a funny look came into his eyes and he relaxed, eyes going a bit bigger. "That-" he purred a bit in the middle of his sentence. "That feels... really good..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid kept petting him, and soon the ocelot was full-out purring, the blue and green irises of his eyes the size of golf balls. "Ooohhh, this feels nice," he purred.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hehe, who says experimenting with cats is a bad idea?" the spider hybrid joked, and the two young children chuckled. And for quite a long time, the two of them sat there (or, lay there, in the case of the ocelot), a peaceful silence over the room.</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse felt the headache pass, and straightened up. Lukas blinked and straightened up, both of them staring at one another in surprise.</p><p>Finally, Lukas broke the awkward silence. "Um... so... I'll keep an eye out."</p><p>"Thanks, Lukas," and Jesse smiled, but the smile was no longer comfortable, but a bit awkward.</p><p>"... um... so... we're cool?" Lukas asked, a bit nervously.</p><p>"We're cool," Jesse agreed.</p><p>"Cool, cool," Lukas responded.</p><p>Jesse had to think of a response. "Cool beans," she said finally.</p><p>"Cool-o-rama," Lukas shot back, cracking the slightest smile.</p><p>Jesse had to laugh a bit at that, making some of the awkwardness go away. "Ha! See ya, Lukas," and she strolled away, almost missing his slightly late, echoed, "Yeah, see ya." She glanced back for a second to wave, to see his smile having faded to a rather confused look.</p><p>She was a bit confused herself. Where had THAT flashback come from?</p><p>As Jesse walked past him, she spotted Axel, watching a bunch of chickens in a chicken machine and clearly enjoying himself. She rolled her eyes, a tiny smile on her face. Same old Axel.</p><p>He caught her eye after a minute and mouthed, "I'll find the weird guy in a minute or two."</p><p>Petra must've already come through here, then.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at him with a slight grin and mouthed back, "Sure." His already pretty big grin grew to gargantuan proportions, making Jesse giggle to herself, and continue moving on. As she glanced away, she spotted someone wearing brownish-green robes with long black hair walking through the crowd.</p><p>She crossed her arms. For some reason, the clothes seemed a bit off, but it was the first lead she'd had the whole time.</p><p>So, she started after the robed figure.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Confrontations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse had reached the center of the crowd when Aiden popped out from behind someone. Jesse started backwards to avoid body-slamming him by accident (although she was tempted to do it on purpose), making her gold barrette slip down out of place by accident and sent some hair cascading over her right eye. She really needed to get better at fastening it in place, since she now could see almost... nothing.</p><p>"Well, if it isn't Team Trashbag!" Aiden mocked as Jesse tried to look around him, but failing as he moved to block her vision, "How's your stupid pig?"</p><p>The moment he said the last two words, Jesse felt her blood boil, then freeze in anger. Her fists clenched, and she reached up to her left eye instinctively to shove her hair out of her face.</p><p>"I heard that intense heat causes brain-" Aiden cut himself off, eyes widening and freezing stock-still as his mouth hung open. For once, the condescending, brown-haired bully was absolutely speechless.</p><p>Jesse was glaring at him, but since only her left eye was showing, it was glowing blood-red, casting faint shadows over parts of her face. Combine with the malevolent glare she was sending him, Aiden was incredibly lucky that looks couldn't kill, because if they could, he'd be decapitated on the floor. "I don't know <em>how</em>," Jesse snarled, taking a step towards him and making him step back, "I don't know <em>when-</em>" Another step forward and back. "But someday, far into the future, when you're <em>least</em> expecting it," and her face was only a few inches from his, "we <em>WILL </em>get our revenge."</p><p>"Whoa, whoa, I-I was just joking! Jeez," Aiden whimpered a bit, cringing away from the one-eyed glare Jesse was sending him.</p><p>Jesse adjusted her hair so it was in the style it had been in before encountering Aiden, still glowering at him. "Yeah? Well, I <em>wasn't.</em>" And with that, she shoved him out of the way and kept walking. Jesse was a pretty nice person, but try to hurt any person she cared about and you were dead to her. Probably worse than that, actually.</p><p>The black-haired person was talking to some other people, and Jesse had to watch them for another minute. Yes, their outfit definitely seemed off.</p><p>She walked forward and tapped the person on the shoulder, with a quiet, "Um... excuse me?"</p><p>The person turned around, to reveal it was actually just a woman who looked remarkably like Ivor from the back. "Yes?"</p><p>"Ah, sorry- you just looked like someone I was looking for," Jesse said, feeling immensely relieved that she hadn't just up and confronted the woman.</p><p>"Oh. Okay." And she turned away.</p><p>Jesse was relieved, but disappointed at the same time. The only lead she had, and it didn't even turn out to be the right person...</p><p>Suddenly, a loud squealing rang out through the area, and her head snapped around, in the direction of the squeal. "Reuben?" she called out, hopefully.</p><p>She started walking in the direction of the squeal as a butcher (seriously, who sells pork chops at a convention?) called, "Pork chops! Fresh off the bone!" And, to Jesse's incredible horror, he pulled Reuben out and set him on the counter. "Nothing quite like a juicy pork chop!" And, to Jesse's even more acute horror, he pulled out an axe.</p><p>"<em>Reuben!</em>" the desperate scream that tore itself out of her throat came quite unprompted, but as she ran towards the booth it was the first thing that came to mind.</p><p>Her pig whipped to her with a desperate squeal, and the butcher glared at her. "What's the big idea? I'm trying to run a business here!"</p><p>Jesse's fists clenched. "That's <em>my pig!</em>" she snapped at him.</p><p>"Oh really?" the butcher asked in a voice that really just wanted to make Jesse hit him, "well I found him out in the woods, so I think that makes him MY pig."</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath to calm down. She did NOT need to pulverize some innocent guy (even if he was about to butcher Reuben) and get herself kicked out of Endercon. "Please?" she asked, a bit desperately, "he's my friend."</p><p>The butcher's expression seemed to soften a little bit, as he glanced at Reuben. "To me, he's inventory. I... might be amenable to some kind of trade," he hinted.</p><p>Jesse bit her lip, before finally pulling out her stone sword. "All I've got is this sword..."</p><p>The butcher's eyes lit up, and he lowered his axe. "Oh... that's very nice. With this I could cut my butchering time in half."</p><p>He hesitated, before knocking Reuben off the counter over to Jesse's side, and taking the sword from her grip. "Nice doing business with you!" he called after her as Jesse scooped Reuben up and started walking away.</p><p>"I am so sorry, Reuben," she said softly to her pig, "I should never have let you run off in the woods."</p><p>Reuben grumbled a little bit, but nuzzled into his female owner. Jesse finally set him down when she saw Olivia, and jogged over to her friend before tapping her on the shoulder. The dark-skinned engineer turned to look at her, and Jesse said, softly, "Hey. You know that thing I had to do earlier? Long story short, he cheated Petra on a deal, and now we're trying to track him down. You in?"</p><p>Olivia grinned at her a bit, brown eyes sparkling with interest. "Oh, I'm in all right."</p><p>"Did you find him?" Petra asked, racing up to them with Axel hot on her heels.</p><p>Jesse huffed a bit and glanced off. "Nah, I thought I saw him earlier, but it was a false alarm wait there he is!" she blurted, pointing. Automatically, she had to make the pointy bumps curl in on themselves again.</p><p>Everyone looked. Ivor was at the entrance to the keynote, panting. He glanced backwards, but didn't seem to spot them, before rushing into the keynote.</p><p>"We have to follow him!" and the whole group raced over to the usher. He gave them a look that just seemed really bored. Honestly, Jesse would be bored too, if she had that job all day.</p><p>Jesse grinned sheepishly at him. "Um... hi. What would it take... for us to get inside tonight?" And smiled pleadingly.</p><p>The usher blinked. "Uh... tickets..." and then he started laughing, as if it were funny. Honestly, it wasn't that funny...</p><p>"So, uh, here's the thing," Jesse said, crossing her hands behind her back, "we <em>had</em> tickets, but then we lost them."</p><p>"Oh man," the usher said, sympathetically, "that sucks man, I hate when that happens."</p><p>"I know!" Jesse agreed, a bit too enthusiastically, "I feel like <em>such</em> an idiot."</p><p>The usher winced at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, but... no tickets, no show."</p><p>Suddenly, a chicken fluttered out of nowhere- probably escaped from some machine someplace. The usher cowered away, shrieking, "Chiiiiiicken! Chicken! Chicken!"</p><p>The chicken wandered away, and the usher panted, straightening back up. "I-it's okay, it's gone, you're a totally cool dude," he whimpered slightly, before turning back to face Jesse. "Sorry, brah."</p><p>The four of them walked away and gave each other a look that basically said, "Okay, what the heck are we supposed to do now?"</p><p>"How are we going to get past him now?" Olivia hissed, glancing at the usher.</p><p>"I could get past him. Just need a little wind-up room," Axel suggested.</p><p>Jesse let out a laugh, eyes widening. "Haha, <em>no.</em>" Her gaze rose, and a small smile formed on her face. "What we need, is a distraction."</p><p>Petra turned to see what Jesse was looking at, her own face sporting a mischievous grin, "A bunch of <em>chickens</em> running around might be a distraction."</p><p>"And the usher's afraid of chickens!" Axel exclaimed, dark gray eyes lighting up.</p><p>Jesse felt her mischievous grin grow to beauty-pageant proportions, "What would you say... if I said I wanted to break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Slime Blocks and Basements</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This is only eight slimeballs," Jesse said, disappointment obvious in her voice, "we need one more to make a slime block."</p><p>"Okay, we need another way to get some more slime, and fast," Petra said, after doing a quick head- er, slime- count, looking back up at them.</p><p>They'd just gone to a booth to get a slime block, except... the booth only sold slime balls. And they had a shortage. Worst luck ever.</p><p>As everyone split up to go looking for slime, Jesse looked down at the two slime balls in her hands, before back up. As she did, she spotted a shiny glisten, and focused. Yup, weird shade of green. Slime ball.</p><p>The slime ball landed in Lukas's hand.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath, psyching herself up, before walking over to the blonde. "Hey... Lukas? Could you... do me a favor?" she asked, awkwardly, and a little hopefully.</p><p>Lukas caught the slime ball again, before looking at her. "Anything's possible," he said, lightly, with a little smile at the end to show he meant no harm.</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but smile back. "I need slime balls... I swear, I have a REALLY good explanation..."</p><p>Lukas's gaze wasn't focused on her anymore. He was looking past her, before smiling at her and holding it out. "Whatever you guys are doing, count me in."</p><p>"Thanks Lukas," Petra said, before adding in an undertone to Jesse, "told you he was useful."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at the redhead, but she was smiling, so the eye-roll went right over her head.</p><p>Axel frowned at Lukas as he stepped back a bit, Lukas having to crane his head back to get a good look at the much bigger male. "Aw man... this guy isn't actually COOL, is he?"</p><p>"Remains to be seen," Olivia answered, her right eye still brighter than usual.</p><p>Lukas fidgeted as Jesse took all the slime balls and went over to a nearby crafting table. As she placed the slime balls down, she could hear Lukas and Axel talking. "So, uh... you guys been working together long? You've got good chemistry."</p><p>"Ya jealous?" That was Axel.</p><p>"I'm just saying, I think it's cool that you have a team that works so well together."</p><p>"You're TOTALLY jealous."</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but smirk a little, before the nine slime balls shivered together into a solid block.</p><p>"Ta-daa! One slime block." Jesse grinned, before her face fell at the slimy block. "<em>Gross.</em>"</p><p>"Let me have that-" Olivia reached out with both hands automatically and took ahold of the block, which seemed to jump into her arms. Both of them looked at the block, before Olivia turned away, eyes not meeting hers, and went over to a spot in between the machine and a nearby booth... uh, roof? "Riiiighhhht-" and the block jumped back out, "here."</p><p>Jesse turned to Axel. "Gimme a boost!"</p><p>Axel helped Jesse up, but she still wasn't tall enough- she had to stretch-</p><p>A small string of silk shot out and attached to the top.</p><p>Jesse hid it with the rest of her body, squirming onto the roof and scratching it off the best she could, the extra bumps on her sides curling in again. She was going to have to have a better method soon- it was starting to get noticeable even with the curling.</p><p>She looked at the slime block, backed away, and then ran forward, launching herself off the roof of the booth. Her hair fluttered in the wind as her feet hit the block solidly, and rebounded into the air. "Wheee!" she laughed, before drawing her fist back and smashing one thing of glass, allowing chickens to pour forth from the opening.</p><p>She landed on her feet, as the booth owner went sprinting past her. "My poultry! My precious poultry!" he wailed, as the usher charged forward. "Keep your eyes closed! They'll peck out your eyes!" he warned, just as a chicken bowled him over.</p><p>Jesse blinked. "These chickens are vicious," she joked a bit, before running for the keynote, followed by Petra, Olivia, Axel, Reuben, and Lukas. There was an indignant 'Hey!' from the usher that Jesse ignored as they ran into the keynote.</p><p>"Where'd he go?!" Petra demanded immediately.</p><p>Jesse looked around, before pointing at a door that was slightly ajar. "Well, that seems as likely a place as anywhere else... cliche though."</p><p>They all rushed for the door, but Lukas paused halfway in. "What do we do once we catch him?"</p><p>Everyone looked at one another, as Lukas clarified, "There are a MILLION ways to play this."</p><p>Finally, Jesse said, nicely, "We ask politely for what's ours."</p><p>"Short, sweet, and to the point. Not bad," and Lukas grinned at the raven-haired girl. She couldn't help but grin back, and opened the door.</p><p>Descending the staircase, she stuck her head around the corner, and felt both eyes widen. "Is... this what we were expecting?"</p><p>The others poked their heads around the corner as well, seeing the shelves and the potions and the cobwebs everywhere. "What IS this place?" Olivia wondered, stepping out from behind the wall.</p><p>"Looks like the basement," Jesse mumbled. "I guess he must've gone out a different way or something."</p><p>"I'll bet you ANYTHING my skull's down here," Petra said, seriously, looking around and crossing her arms.</p><p>"And if we find anything else to steal along the way," Axel said, already eyeing some of the potions, "so be it, right?"</p><p>Petra scowled at the large male. "Axel- that's not what we're here to do."</p><p>"I DID say we should ask POLITELY, Axel," Jesse pointed out.</p><p>Axel brushed both of them off. "Well, he's not here right now. We can't ask... so I say, we TAKE."</p><p>"I don't want to stoop to his level," Petra argued right back.</p><p>Jesse nodded. "Let's just get the skull and get out of here- this place is kinda creepy."</p><p>Axel scowled, crossing his arms. "No one ever lets me have any fun," he complained, though kind of jokingly.</p><p>Jesse grinned back at him. "We let you hang out with us, don't we?" She straightened up and stepped down the stairs. "The faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get out of here."</p><p>Everyone split up, looking among the shelves. Jesse barely skimmed over the shelves, but just as she was about to turn a corner, she stopped and looked back at the book that had caught her eye- an old, red, leatherbound book with a faint symbol and words etched in the binding.</p><p>She leaned closer. <em>B.O.A.</em>, the binding read. And the symbol looked like a strange mix between a wolf and a human head.</p><p>Jesse felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she looked at the book. Automatically, she reached out, and pulled the book off the shelf. It wasn't that thick of a book, really- it was only about fifty pages or so. She flipped through the book, absentmindedly noticing the different writings in the book, and finally pocketed it. It might prove to be important.</p><p>Turning the corner, she spotted Petra rummaging through a chest. Petra took out something that Jesse couldn't quite see. "Oh, what do we have here...?" And she lashed out, making Jesse jump back as the golden sword tip barely grazed her nose. "Jeez, decapitate me, would ya?" Jesse joked.</p><p>Petra chuckled a bit sheepishly. "Ahaha- sorry. It's too heavy. And too soft."</p><p>"But super flashy," Jesse teased, and Petra looked down at the sword. "Yeah. Hey, you still have that one stone sword I gave you, right?"</p><p>"Nope, I had to give it to some butcher to save Reuben's life," Jesse said, looking down at the ground.</p><p>Petra winced. "Jeez... well, guess it was for a good cause. Here-" And she pushed the golden sword into Jesse's hand.</p><p>"Thanks," Jesse said with a small smile, sheathing it and being careful not to spear the book. Petra grinned at the dark-haired female. "Don't lose that one."</p><p>Jesse kept wandering through, until she came across a glowing violet potion with luminous glass. "Oh, hey!" she breathed, impressed, "check this out."</p><p>"You're not going to believe me," Axel said, making Jesse start a bit and her bumps curl in more violently, "but I SWEAR I had a dream about this. Okay, potion... I know this is a big step, but I'd be honored if you'd come home with me."</p><p>"Axel, no. Make yourself useful and go find that skull," she whispered to him.</p><p>"I am..." and then he took the potion anyway. Jesse's face went deadpan. "Uhh, nope, you're LITERALLY doing the exact opposite of what I just asked you to do. Besides, there's no way he's not going to notice that his fancy potion's missing."</p><p>"A good thief covers his tracks," and Axel snagged a bottle of violet potion that didn't glow. Actually, if you only glanced at it, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong. He popped it where the glowing bottle had been a moment before, whispered loudly, "Fixed it!" and went back off. Jesse rolled her eyes with a faint smile. "Oh yeah, the perfect crime."</p><p>She glanced at where Axel had just snagged the violet potion, before walking over and toggling a lever. The bookshelf Olivia was looking at slid down, revealing a T made of some sort of... sand, I think, and a machine-like block in the center.</p><p>Jesse frowned. Why did this setup seem familiar?</p><p>"What is this stuff?" Olivia wondered.</p><p>"Soul Sand," Petra responded immediately, "it's everywhere in the Nether."</p><p>"I wonder what that block in the middle is," Olivia wondered, stepping forward, "it's almost... pulsing. Maybe if I could just..."</p><p>Jesse grabbed her arm to stop her friend, Olivia's fingers only centimeters from grazing the block. "Are you crazy? Don't just touch it!" she whisper-shouted. "It could be dangerous!"</p><p>Olivia nodded, suitably chastened. Jesse dropped her arm, and said, a bit more evenly, "remember what we're all here for- find that skull."</p><p>Olivia nodded again, and Jesse looked at the chest in front of the T, before leaning down and opening it.</p><p>She froze in place as she saw the contents of the chest. "Um, good news, weird news, and bad news. Good news is, I found the skull. Weird news is..."</p><p>Petra scowled as she leaned in over Jesse's shoulder. "What the hell? Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's already got two of them?"</p><p>"That's... part of the bad news," and Jesse felt every muscle in her body standing out. She was so rigid that you could compare her to a wall and find almost no difference. "I think this guy's trying to build a Wither."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Iron Golems Suck!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"A.. Wither?" Petra gaped at the skulls, then back at Jesse. "But... that's-"</p><p>"One of the worst monsters there is!" Lukas burst out.</p><p>Jesse stared down uncomfortably at the skulls. "Well, we came here to find a skull. We found it. Maybe we should just- grab it, and go. While we still can."</p><p>Even as she spoke, the sound of someone descending down the stairs could be heard. "Scatter!" Petra hissed.</p><p>Jesse reacted immediately, even as her smart little pig hit the lever and everyone fanned out into the shelves. She practically launched herself into a small niche, crouching down as far as she could.</p><p>She peeked over the edge and spotted Petra ducking behind a shelf, and Olivia behind her own little niche. Lukas had dived into a chest, and Axel was pressing himself up against a wall. Reuben had somehow managed to jump onto the shelf holding the potions and was hiding on the shelf.</p><p>"Don't you recognize me?!" Ivor's voice spat, and for a single, terrifying moment, Jesse thought he'd spotted her. Until he continued, "Or, no, how about... surprised TO SEE ME?!" And he kept walking, Jesse pressing her back against the shelves as he passed only feet in front of her. "Or, no, that's... 'Didn't expect to see me, now did you?!'"</p><p>Great. She and Petra had traded that Wither Skull to a crazy wannabe villain who was trying to create a Wither. What wonderful judgement.</p><p>Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Olivia poking her head over the edge of the shelf, but as she put her hands down to help herself up, her hand bumped a potion bottle and toppled it to the ground, making it tinkle gently as it fell to the ground.</p><p>Ivor, who'd started looking through a chest, whipped around with narrowed eyes. "Who's there?" he asked.</p><p>Olivia whipped back down out of sight, but Ivor was walking towards her and Petra's hiding spot.</p><p>Jesse practically vaulted out of her own hiding spot, shouting, "Hey, you!"</p><p>Ivor whirled back around. "What are you doing here?!" he demanded, before a look of horror dawned on his face, and he said, more quietly, "What did you see?"</p><p>"Leave her alone!" And Petra rushed out from behind the shelf.</p><p>"Yeah, back off pal," Axel said sharply, stepping out and crossing his arms. Jesse sent both of them a grateful look.</p><p>Ivor looked from Petra to Jesse, anger dawning on his features, sharp and angry. "You two! Did you FOLLOW me here?"</p><p>"You thought you could just screw us over and get away with it, didn't you?!" Petra demanded, gold eyes practically on fire with anger.</p><p>"We're here to prove you wrong," Jesse finished, glaring at Ivor.</p><p>Ivor sneered at the two of them. "What are you going to do about it? I got my skull and you two got what you earned!"</p><p>"We're not stupid, Ivor!" Jesse snapped at him, fists clenching. "Soul Sand, and three Wither Skulls- you're building a frickin' Wither!"</p><p>Ivor's eyes widened, but he tried to recover his composure. "Huh. Smarter than you look."</p><p>"Hey," and Axel stepped forward, crossing his arms. He fairly towered over Ivor, and Jesse had to appreciate once more how strong Axel really was. "Nobody talks about my friends like that, and I mean <em>nobody.</em> Now shut your mouth, or <em>else</em>."</p><p>Ivor grumbled and threw his hands in the air. "Enough! You've wasted enough of my time already." And he turned on his heel and sprinted off, Jesse quick to follow him.</p><p>They reached the spot near the stairs, looking around. "Where'd he go?" Petra asked, looking around.</p><p>"If you won't leave of your own volition," and Jesse's head snapped to where she could hear Ivor, and her eyes widened in horror, a gasp tearing out of her throat as Ivor tipped a pumpkin onto an iron T, "I'll happily remove you <em>myself!</em>"</p><p>The blocks shivered together and compacted into a heavy, huge, iron golem.</p><p>"Oh snapcrackers," Olivia whispered, her dark skin having gone several shades paler in fear.</p><p>"Show our friends the door, will you?" Ivor sneered at them, and the golem swung one of it's massive arms at them.</p><p>Screaming, all of them ducked, the air ruffling up their hair and clothing as the heavy iron arm whipped over their heads. Jesse dove to the side as the golem swung again, the arm making contact violently with Olivia-</p><p>Olivia appeared to bleep out of sight, reappearing in a spray of purple sparks a couple of feet out of reach of the swing. She looked incredibly bewildered- just for a second- before she had to dive away again as the golem swung again, bellyflopping rather painfully on the stone floor.</p><p>Axel backpedaled as the iron golem advanced on him, making an odd hissing sound in fear, eyes the size of dinner plates, before he started flashing white.</p><p>"What in the-" Olivia's comment was never finished, because a white hot explosion hit them, knocking them all back.</p><p>Jesse slammed full force into the wall and groaned in pain, rubbing her throbbing head. Olivia's belly flop had kept her from getting blasted away, and Reuben had landed in Jesse's lap. Petra was at the foot of the stairs, groaning in pain. Axel was tense and just standing there with shock, staring at the iron golem against the opposite wall, wisps of smoke curling off his body.</p><p>Petra was the first to react- she shoved herself to her feet, and then ran up the stairs, Olivia rushing after her. Axel followed after a moment, and Jesse scooped up her pig and ran after them.</p><p>They burst into the back of the crowd at the keynote, and Jesse set down her pig, panting, fear and adrenaline still coursing through her. "Is- is everyone okay?" she asked, gasping for breath.</p><p>"I-I think so," Petra agreed, but Olivia had straightened up and was looking around, alarm registering in her eyes. "Um... guys?" she sounded scared, and Jesse managed to lift her head to look at her friend.</p><p>The next two words that Olivia spoke made a shock of fear shoot through Jesse.</p><p>"Where's Lukas?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Impromptu Rescue Mission</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I- I thought he was right behind me!" Jesse said, looking behind her as if to check to confirm, no, Lukas was not behind her. Of course, he wasn't.</p><p>"Well, if he's not here, then the only place he could be is..." Axel trailed off, eyes widening in shock, and Jesse finished the thought, looking back at the door. "He's still down there!"</p><p>"Ivor has an iron golem and all the ingredients to make a Wither down there!" Petra said, eyes widening, "if he was to unleash it on this crowd of people... we have to act fast!"</p><p>Olivia jerked her head at Gabriel, who was talking about something. "It just so happens that the greatest warrior of all time is in the building- we can ask Gabriel to help! This is the smartest way to help Lukas."</p><p>"He's tough," Petra agreed, "I just hope he's tough enough to hold out a little longer."</p><p>Jesse shook her head, looking back at the door. "I'm going after Lukas myself," she said, firmly.</p><p>Petra's eyes widened. "By... yourself? A-are you sure, Jesse?" she asked. She actually sounded quite.. admiring.</p><p>Jesse looked back at her redhead friend, and felt uncertainty creep into her stomach at the hint of fear in her friend's eyes. But there was no way she could just bail now, after suggesting it in the first place, so she nodded affirmatively. "Yeah..." She turned back to her friends, "the rest of you, go get Gabriel."</p><p>"We're on it, Jesse," Olivia agreed instantly, both eyes brightening, Petra piping up with a smile, "We'll find a way to warn Gabriel and then we'll meet you back here."</p><p>"Let's crash this party," Axel agreed enthusiastically.</p><p>"Be back as soon as I can," Jesse promised, before crossing her heart and then covering her eye.</p><p>Her friends all grinned at her at the sign of her usual oath.</p><p>Petra gave the black-haired girl a long look, the grin fading, before quietly uttering, "Be careful."</p><p>And Jesse and Reuben turned and ran back towards the door, staring down into the darkness again. "Here goes nothing," Jesse whispered, before stepping down the stairs.</p><p>The path down the staircase was long, and a little frightening, since Jesse had NO idea how she was going to get Lukas without:</p><p>A) Getting her head knocked off by the iron golem, or</p><p>B) Getting spotted by the iron golem, since A was not really an option.</p><p>She stepped off the stairs- and immediately whipped back, slamming her back against the wall and covering her mouth as her heart pounded as the iron golem stared in her direction. Good thing she hadn't just charged in. Reuben was being very quiet as well- smart pig.</p><p>After a whole minute, in which she forced herself to count to one hundred as slowly as she dared, she peeked around the corner, and tiptoed into the bookshelves when she saw no sign of the iron golem. "Lukas! Can you hear me?" she whispered as loudly as she dared, looking around.</p><p>"Jesse?" and Jesse looked back as Lukas's blue-green eyes peeped over the edges of a chest, one hand keeping the lid lifted. "You- you came back for me?" Surprise was evident in his whisper and his eyes.</p><p>Jesse felt a relieved smile creep over her face. "Lukas! Over here," and she gestured towards her.</p><p>Lukas's eyes shifted, his eyes widened, and he shut the chest.</p><p>Jesse felt her face fall back into a frown. "And... the golem's right behind me, isn't it." She turned around to see the golem glaring down at her with red eyes, and Jesse dodged it the best she could as it swiped clumsily at her.</p><p>"Hey!" The golem looked away, Jesse leaping into a nearby niche and kneeling down so that the golem couldn't see her, her heart thudding like a jackhammer in her chest.</p><p>The golem looked back to where Jesse had been. Not seeing her, and being too stupid to look around, it lumbered away.</p><p>"You okay?" Jesse whispered to Lukas.</p><p>She almost immediately winced. He was stuck in a chest. With an iron golem roaming the room and ready to take their heads off if they so much as peeked their heads around a corner. He wasn't exactly 'okay' right now.</p><p>He considered the question. "I've... been worse. Of course, I can't say this is the <em>best</em> situation I've ever been in... any bright ideas?" he whispered to her.</p><p>Jesse had to think about that. An idea came to her mind, but...</p><p>She looked down at her hands, steeling her resolve, before nodding at Lukas. "I think so. One second."</p><p>And she jumped out of the niche, even though every muscle in her body was screaming not to. Loudly. "Hey!" she shouted at the golem.</p><p>The golem whirled back around to see her, but Jesse raised her palm at the golem and poked the tip out of her tongue out of her mouth, as a huge strand of silk shot from her palm and nailed the golem right in the 'chest'.</p><p>The golem staggered back, and Jesse began to move. Like the flashback she'd had only this morning- had it only been this morning? It already felt like much longer- she didn't even try to think. She didn't try to wonder how or why she was doing this, she just did it, silk streaming from her hands. The golem tried to swing at her, but it was too slow for Jesse. She could feel the bumps on her sides, growing ever bigger, struggling to join the two that were working already, but she forced them to curl in on her sides again, making her own ribs ache in pain.</p><p>Finally, she landed on the ground in front of the chest, panting heavily, staring at her hands as she scraped off the silk on the stone floor, before finally looking up from her hands to admire her handiwork.</p><p>The iron golem was swathed in white silk, tangled up in the strings like a fly in a spiderweb, the world's most elaborate spiderweb stringing from a few of the bookshelves and the walls, struggling.</p><p>"Jesse?"</p><p>Jesse turned to see Lukas staring at her, a stunned expression on his face.</p><p>"Hurry, it's not going to keep the golem forever!" Jesse hissed, and Lukas quickly took the hint and jumped out of the chest, the three of them (including Reuben) racing away.</p><p>"Axel's explosion knocked me back into the shelves, and by the time I managed to get up again it was too late," Lukas panted as the two of them ran, "Thanks for coming back for me, Jesse. Didn't know if anyone would."</p><p>Jesse turned to look at Lukas, a small smile forming on her face. "No problem, Lukas. What are friends for?"</p><p>Lukas blinked at her, his hair twitching again, before a small smile formed on his own face. "Thanks, Jesse. I owe you one."</p><p>"No problem. Now, I would explain how I did that," and she nodded at her elaborate spiderweb, "<em>but</em> right now we need to get out of here before the golem rips through, and try to stop Ivor from spawning his Wither."</p><p>"That's probably a good idea," Lukas agreed, smiling lopsidedly at Jesse. She smiled back again, before the two of them rushed up the stairs and out of the basement.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. A Wither is Born</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The two of them emerged from the staircase. "Where are the others?" Lukas wondered, before they heard Axel's voice boom over the crowd. They looked over and saw the burly boy waving his arms.</p><p>"Freaky, with a side of strange!" he was saying, "why won't you believe me? Do you want me to tell you charades style?"</p><p>Jesse and Lukas couldn't help but giggle a little bit as they moved towards their friends.</p><p>"Believe me," Gabriel sighed, "that's the LAST thing I want you to do."</p><p>Their giggles amplified.</p><p>"Four words. Six syllables. Sounds like: 'schmonster in the schmasement." Olivia rolled her eyes at the burly male.</p><p>The giggles grew so acute that Jesse was actually completely <em>silent</em> from giggling so hard.</p><p>Gabriel put a hand against his forehead. "Next," he said tiredly.</p><p>"Wait- just-" Olivia hastily began, before she was interrupted by a voice that made the giggling abate. "<em>I</em> have a question for you."</p><p>Jesse glanced at Lukas with a look that said, 'How in the name of Notch did this guy get up here without us seeing him?'</p><p>Lukas spread his arms out in a way that said, 'How am I supposed to know?'</p><p>"Excuse me, sir," Gabriel said, looking up in Ivor's direction, "You'll have to wait your turn."</p><p>"Just tell me this: do you truly believe that ANYONE can be great?"</p><p>Gabriel put his hands on his hips. "With enough hard work, yes."</p><p>"Was <em>that</em> where I went wrong?" Ivor literally spat, storming out of the crowd with a seething expression, "I simply didn't <em>work</em> hard enough?!"</p><p>Gabriel's expression changed, eyes widening. "<em>Ivor</em>?" he gasped, "is that really you?" Then, a look of anger settled over his face. "How <em>dare</em> you interrupt like this!"</p><p>Jesse looked from the glaring Ivor to the scowling warrior. "You know him?" she asked mildly, keeping her arms at her sides. Actually, HOW her voice was so calm she had no clue whatsoever. Inside she was either panicking or confused out of her mind.</p><p>Gabriel glanced down at her, making eye contact. "I don't know if I ever really <em>did</em> know him. But what I didn't know... I didn't like." And he glared at Ivor.</p><p>"The feeling is entirely mutual," Ivor seethed, walking up the steps, "why don't you tell them the real story, <em>Gabriel?!</em>" and he spat the last part out like it was poison.</p><p>"I see time has made you bitter," Gabriel responded evenly.</p><p>"And it's made YOU an even bigger <em>fool</em>," Ivor shot back. "These people were promised greatness, and I'm ready to deliver."</p><p>He started walking towards the back of the stage.</p><p>"Gabriel, you have to stop him!" Jesse shouted, desperately.</p><p>Gabriel glanced at her, then back to Ivor, a look of uncertainty and... was that apology?... coming over his face.</p><p>The Wither setup rose, only, this one had the two skulls on each end of the T. Ivor pulled out a skull- <em>Petra's</em> skull, and sneered at Gabriel, "I'm sorry this is how they had to learn the truth."</p><p>Gabriel's eyes widened even as Ivor turned back to his Wither and tipped it into place. "Ivor, <em>no!</em>"</p><p>An explosion sent the warrior and Ivor flying off the stage. A Wither rose from the stage, looking much like the one Jesse had fought when she was younger, but with the strange, machine-like block in its ribs.</p><p>Ivor stood up even as people started screaming and running. "Creature- attack!" he ordered.</p><p>The Wither flew around the keynote, making even more people flee the scene. A fireball shot right at Jesse-</p><p>Jesse dove out of the way, the fireball hitting the ground and blasting a crater where Jesse had been standing only seconds before. She scrambled to her feet, stepping away carefully as another one flew at her. She dodged that one, too.</p><p>Then things started getting a little weird. Parts of the floor, the wall, a couple posters, a flowerpot, started soaring towards the Wither, compacting into it and making things start thudding together, making it even larger than before.</p><p>Lukas was shaking, eyes wide. He looked like he wanted to bolt up the nearest tree and stay there until it left.</p><p>"Everyone, stay calm!" Gabriel shouted, "this foul beast is no match for me!"</p><p>Ivor pointed at Gabriel, looking much like a naughty kid tattling on another one. "Creature- attack!"</p><p>He leapt up and hit it with his sword... but instead of doing any damage, he rebounded and hit the ground. Hard.</p><p>"Gabriel-" Jesse began, stepping forward to help, but Gabriel managed to get to his feet. "No! Stay away!" he shouted, fear showing in his eyes. "It's after me, not you!"</p><p>"Look at him, the mighty Gabriel!" Ivor mocked, and Jesse glowered at him. "He might not be able to stop this creature, but I can!"</p><p>Jesse looked from the Wither, getting bigger by every minute, and then back at Ivor. "I <em>highly</em> doubt that."</p><p>"Creature- retreat!" Ivor ordered.</p><p>The Wither did nothing but turn to face him, the center head completely black with a single, glowing indigo eye.</p><p>"Uh- ahem," he cleared this throat, before shouting again, enunciating more this time, "Creature- retreat!"</p><p>It continued to advance, and he snapped, "Retreat, I said!"</p><p>"Ivor, what in the name of Notch are you <em>doing</em>?!" Jesse demanded.</p><p>Ivor glanced from her to the Wither again. "Uh, no need to worry, my friends-"</p><p>"We're not friends," the Bureau of Amalgamology, Petra, and Lukas chorused, even though Lukas was still shaking like a leaf.</p><p>"- I've prepared an elixir that will defeat this creature."</p><p>"An elix- <em>oh.</em>" Jesse's face went snow white. "We're dead."</p><p>Ivor withdrew a potion- the same purple potion Axel had used to replace the fancy one from earlier.</p><p>"Uh oh," Axel said, eyes widening.</p><p>Ivor chucked the bottle at the Wither, which smashed on impact.</p><p>Nothing happened, as expected.</p><p>Ivor stared, horror in his eyes. "Impossible. It should've worked! I took such care!" he whispered.</p><p>"The potion- Axel, you have to throw the real potion!" Olivia hissed at Axel.</p><p>Axel hesitated. "But... finder's keepers."</p><p>"You thieves, you're ruining everything!" Ivor yelled at them, having caught their whispered conversation.</p><p>Axel reluctantly withdrew the fancy potion, which Jesse snatched and hurled at the Wither with all her might at the machine block. A black 'skin' crept over the block, just as the potion made contact.</p><p>"It's <em>protecting itself!</em>" Ivor cried out, "without the Command Block exposed, the potion's useless! It wasn't supposed to end this way..." he backed away, before turning tail and running.</p><p>"Ivor! You coward, get back here!" Gabriel roared after the male, but Ivor was long gone.</p><p>Suddenly, a tractor beam shone on Gabriel, lifting him into the air. Olivia ran forward, but then she started to shake the moment her body hit the tractor beam, and she started to screech, shaking harshly. She also started lifting into the air. "Je-Jesse," she screamed through the screeching, "h-help-!"</p><p>Jesse reacted immediate, holding her palms out. Strands of silk shot from each one, catching Gabriel on the leg and Olivia in the side, before Jesse yanked with all her might.</p><p>Both toppled to the ground, out of the tractor beam. "Thank you," Gabriel said, quickly getting rid of the string, Olivia pulling it off to the best of her ability and Jesse scraping her hands off on the ground. "I- I won't ask you how you did that. We don't have time. Ivor was right about one thing, I can't defeat that thing. Not on my own." He looked at them, as if just realizing they were still there. "Everyone's running away... except for you. Will you help me?"</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before nodding. "Of course."</p><p>"Follow me!" And all of them started running out of the keynote, Jesse not looking back as the world's worst monster was being created.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Get Out of Here!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They ran out of the building, mixing with the panicking crowd. Jesse was doing her best to get past them, but then she had to contend with the chickens. Oh, how many chickens there were.</p><p>"Outta my way, you chickens!" she cried desperately.</p><p>A loud rumbling sound, and Jesse peeked to see the dome roof shattering, collapsing, as a humongous black cloud with waving tentacles rose from the wreckage of the keynote. With a start, Jesse realized that was the Wither. And yep- three heads, with huge teeth, and glowing indigo eyes.</p><p>Jesse gasped as THREE tractor beams started shining, catching people in the beams and sucking them up, absorbing them as if they were blocks.</p><p>And then indigo light landed on her, making the raven-haired girl gasp as she started to rise into the air, a part of the bridge coming with her. Jesse grabbed onto the stone bridge, screaming. "Guys! Help! I'm up here!" she screamed, but no one could hear her- her grip slipped-</p><p>A desperate stabbing out with her hand, and a huge strand of silk caught the ground a little in front of her, sticking solidly. She stopped rising, and she concentrated on the string, which started retracting, but far too slow against the pull of the Wither.</p><p>So, she grabbed ahold of the string, and started pulling herself forward. Slowly, her head emerged from the beam, and then her torso-</p><p>She toppled out the rest of the way, and smacked onto her back before flopping onto her belly.</p><p>"Holy Notch that hurt," she moaned, struggling to her feet, before running through the crowd, some of them screaming as they were sucked up in the tractor beam. She spotted Lukas and his jacket. "Lukas!" she shouted, sprinting over to him.</p><p>The blonde whirled to face her, face white, body shaking, eyes wide. "Holy crap!" he cried. "Oh man, if I was still in that basement..."</p><p>Jesse shuddered as her brain decided to be far too imaginative.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse," Lukas said sincerely, looking at her with gratefulness shining in his eyes, "I wouldn't be here without you."</p><p>"Jesse!" And both looked over to see Petra, Olivia, Axel, and Reuben crouching under a booth's roof.</p><p>They ran over, but the moment they got there, a tractor beam sucked it up, making everyone shriek and run away.</p><p>"Wait! <em>Wait!</em> We have to stick together!" Jesse cried out.</p><p>A scream. Jesse whirled on her heel.</p><p>Petra was rising into the air, flailing her arms desperately. "Help me!" she yelled out.</p><p>Jesse jumped into the air, fingers wrapping tightly around her friend's wrist and her other hand wrapping around a fencepost. But the fencepost was starting to wobble, even as Jesse struggled to hang on. "I can't... hold on-" She cut herself off with a scream as the fencepost broke, and she rose into the air-</p><p>A hand flailed to reach her, and Jesse focused and fired, a strand of silk barely missing Gabriel's face. He grabbed it and pulled down, drawing Jesse back down to arm's reach, before grabbing onto her hand and pulling.</p><p>The tractor beam moved away, and they all toppled to the ground, Jesse scraping the silk off her hand.</p><p>"Thanks!" Jesse thanked the male sincerely, and he nodded.</p><p>The others ran back over, faces white. Jesse did a quick headcount. "Do we have everyone?" she asked, desperately.</p><p>"We must run to my fortress! We'll be better protected there!" Gabriel shouted out, before starting to run. They ran past the Enderman fireworks launcher at the entrance, Petra saying to Jesse gratefully, "Thanks for that just now, Jesse."</p><p>"Yeah, well, now we're even," Jesse joked a bit, but the joke fell flat as she gasped, the Wither starting to follow them and sending a flaming skull flying at them.</p><p>Petra tackled them all sideways. "<em>Incoming!</em>" And they tumbled to the ground rather painfully.</p><p>Scrambling to their feet, they all ran as fast as they could. The others were out of the gate before Jesse, and that was why the gate started closing.</p><p>"Why in Notch's sake would they close the gates? This dumb thing can FLY!" Jesse cried, running faster, but she wasn't going to make it-</p><p>She tripped forward, feeling the seams of her shirt rip- R.I.P. to her shirt, it was one of her favorites- and she chanced a look at her midriff. A gasp tore through her as she saw four new arms.</p><p>Four.</p><p>The hands caught her, and she could <em>feel</em> the impact. God, she could <em>feel </em>it, it was- it was weird!</p><p>She focused up ahead, the gate almost closed-</p><p>A burst of energy, and Jesse started using all eight of her limbs to propel herself across the ground, shooting out from the tiny space between the gate and the ground moments before it slammed closed, following her friends.</p><p>As she looked, she saw her friends had had similar ideas according to their, uh, 'talents'- Olivia was starting to bleep out of sight and back in at different distances, although she kept stumbling and at one point she actually faceplanted- it was obvious the whole thing was a bit dizzying for her. Petra was flying, although it was more like short distances of acute gliding. Axel had scooped Reuben up, and was sprinting away from the Witherstorm at a speed that humans probably couldn't reach. Even Lukas was on his hands and legs, using all fours to run, although he did fall a couple times, and Jesse could see the hints of a couple of what looked like cat ears poking out of his hair. They kept tripping, as did Jesse.</p><p>And usually she probably would've worried about it, freaked, really, except for the fact that SHE was one of these.. 'hybrids'... and also now was really NOT the time to do it and freak. So she didn't.</p><p>As they ran through the now-burning forest, Jesse didn't even chance a glance around her- she just tore through the forest, and soon she was where her friends were.</p><p>They barely had time to exchange a nod when a black tentacle shot at them, all of them scattering to avoid a hit.</p><p>Jesse got back to her feet, stumbling a little, before summoning all her energy and taking a huge leap over the tentacle that slammed down to block her path. She cleared it, stumbled, and rushed into the temple.</p><p>Gabriel furiously toggled levers as they ran down the stairs. "The inner chamber is made of obsidian- we should be untouchable in there!" he cried out, as the doors slid open.</p><p>They charged in, even as light flooded into the room. "Hurry!" Gabriel shouted, drawing his sword, "if you can get through the portal, you'll be safe!"</p><p>Axel rushed through the unlit portal, but then paused when nothing happened. "Something's not right here!"</p><p>Jesse patted her pockets down- and then again. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "Oh <em>crap</em>," she cried, "I must've dropped the flint and steel earlier- I can't find it!"</p><p>All of them shared a panicked look, before Petra bit the inside of her cheek- you could tell by the way her cheek dimpled- and held her palm out. Fire spat out of her palm and hit the obsidian, making purple swirls explode into being in the portal.</p><p>"Petra-" Axel began, eyes wide.</p><p>"Look, I know, that was freaky, but we don't have time to worry about it right now!" Petra almost screamed desperately, "get in, now!"</p><p>Axel scooped Reuben up after about a second's hesitation and charged through, Olivia being the next to follow.</p><p>The others would've followed, except that a scream rang out in the air. Jesse whipped around to see Gabriel ensnared by a tentacle. "Gabriel!" She ran back and began to do tug of war with the tentacle. As Gabriel began to fly out the exit, Jesse's other arms twitched, reminding her of their existence. She looked down, before using them and wrapping them around his arms, before she managed to yank him out of the tentacle's grip, the tentacle retreating rather than following Gabriel.</p><p>"Thank you," he said, surprisingly looking rather unsurprised about Jesse's six arms- I mean, even JESSE was surprised- but then he turned back, expression growing more somber as he took in the people being sucked into the Wither's grip. "There are so many of them... I can't- I can't save them all... I can't stop them by myself. We have to find the others."</p><p>"The.. others?" Jesse asked, although she was pretty sure she knew what he meant already.</p><p>"Soren's been missing for years," Gabriel continued, confirming that she'd understood him correctly, "but the others. You must seek them out." He reached into his pocket and held out a glowing amulet, with four different colored bars- red, green, cyan, and white. The cyan gem was glowing, but the others weren't. "Take this amulet, and guard it with your life."</p><p>Jesse took it. "Wh-what do I do with it?" she asked.</p><p>"Take it through the portal, and then-"</p><p>He was interrupted by a tentacle smashing through the roof, one of the heads peering in. Jesse shuddered at the sight of it, as a tentacle pushed them apart, Jesse having to dive away from it. Petra let out a yell, and Jesse twisted to see her friend getting knocked away by another huge, black tentacle.</p><p>She charged towards the tentacle and flailed with the sword with all her might, knocking into the tentacle, although it didn't seem to do a lot. Lukas let out a scream as he quaked on the raised area, eyes wide and ears flattened against his head. Petra ran up and sliced a tentacle away from him, Jesse joining the redhead and the blonde a moment later.</p><p>"You two, go through the portal and meet up with the others. I'll stay behind to do whatever I can," Petra ordered the two of them.</p><p>She started to run away, but paused when they didn't move. "Guys, GO! Now!"</p><p>"I'll stay with you-" Jesse began, but Petra cut her off.</p><p>"No. The others NEED you, Jesse," Petra responded firmly. "I'll meet you guys at the temple!"</p><p>Gabriel yelled again, and they whirled to see him caught in a tractor beam. Jesse and Petra instinctively charged towards him, but another tractor beam caught Petra.</p><p>"<em>No!</em>" Jesse yelled, whirling back to Lukas. "Lukas!"</p><p>She stopped when she saw him shaking where he stood, eyes so wide they were the size of dinner plates.</p><p>She bit her lip, looking frantically between the both of them, and ran for Petra, grabbing her friend's leg and yanking her down.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse. Gabriel's still up there-" Petra started shouting.</p><p>Jesse turned and fired using her palm, but right then a tentacle came thudding down and she started, making the string fly wildly off the target.</p><p>Jesse gritted her teeth scraped it off, getting ready to try again, as Gabriel shouted, "Jesse! Go!"</p><p>"No!" Jesse repeated, running for him and raising her palm to try again-</p><p>In the corner of her peripheral vision, she saw a wild flash of black-</p><p>A huge black tentacle hit her in the ribs, making her gasp as all the breath was knocked out of her body and her arms flail out to try to catch herself, as she felt herself slam into Lukas and topple backwards into an icy hot sensation as the whole world turned purple and glowing and then black.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Guilt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The two of them toppled out of the portal, Jesse's lungs forcing an 'uhf!' out of her as she landed on her back. She stared up at the fiery, dark cavern, before straightening up. All around her, was lava, and some weird... stone-like... thing, which she was lying on. Oh, and fire. Yep, can't forget the fire. Lukas started getting up as well.</p><p>"Where's Petra?" Axel asked.</p><p>Lukas's face was still white with fear, and his ears were flattened against his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered, staring at nothing, "oh god, I'm <em>sorry.</em>"</p><p>Jesse shook her head, still quivering. Her vocal cords didn't seem to want to work, because when she tried to speak, all that came out was gasping.</p><p>"What are you saying?" Axel asked again. Jesse shook her head again, vocal cords still not functioning.</p><p>"Jesse?" Olivia's fear was evident in her voice. "What's he talking about?"</p><p>Jesse cleared her throat a bit, shakily. "It- it was chaos. There- there wasn't much I could do," she eked out.</p><p>Lukas nodded, still staring into nothing. "Jesse's right," he added.</p><p>"Petra's still up there," Jesse finished, biting her lip and crossing her arms. It didn't improve her mood when all six of them crossed, making her sides twinge a bit as all three pairs of 'shoulder's rolled a bit.</p><p>"I got scared," Lukas whispered, finally looking them all in the eye, although he was still the shade of paper, "just for a second."</p><p>Axel's eyes hardened. "You got <em>scared?</em>" He stepped towards Lukas.</p><p>"I'm sorry," and Lukas was starting to shake again, "oh Notch, I'm <em>sorry.</em>"</p><p>"You got scared and all you can say is '<em>you're sorry?</em>'? Axel growled.</p><p>Jesse probably should've been angry. If Lukas had moved, if he hadn't frozen up, they might've been able to save Gabriel as well. They might've been able to save them both.</p><p>But she couldn't get angry.</p><p>"Back off, Axel," Olivia put in, as Jesse put a hand on the quivering Lukas's shoulder, making him blink up at her. She tugged on his arm and helped him up as Axel stomped towards the portal. "We gotta go back."</p><p>"No!" Olivia protested, stepping in front of him, "we just have to wait. Think about what you're walking into."</p><p>"Olivia's right," Jesse agreed, as Lukas's face slowly started to regain a bit of color, "there's nothing we can do. We'd all just end up getting ourself killed. Besides, Petra's tough. She's half-Blaze. She'll be fine."</p><p>"Maybe... but..." Axel was cut off by a loud exclamation from Lukas. "Hey! There she is!"</p><p>The purple in the center swayed and bowed, indicating someone was coming through.</p><p>Jesse stared at the portal hopefully. "come on, come on..." she whispered.</p><p>But who fell through the portal was the guy who'd started the whole thing in the first place. Jesse felt her hopeful look fall.</p><p>"You again?" Ivor sneered.</p><p>Whatever would've been said next, it was interrupted as a huge tentacle thrashed through the portal and grabbed, curling and thrashing. Jesse dove out of the way, Axel fell on his back in surprise and scrambled away, Olivia bleeped several feet away, and Lukas let out a sound that could really only be described as a yowl as he found himself standing a good distance away, his hair standing up on end.</p><p>The tentacles found the side of the portal, wrapped around it, and squeezed. The portal cracked before falling apart completely, the tentacle vanishing along with it.</p><p>Everyone gaped at the remains of the portal, Axel looking especially dismayed.</p><p>Jesse caught her breath and looked at Ivor.</p><p>He caught her eye and glared at her. "You ruined everything."</p><p>Jesse bit her lip. If she'd convinced Axel not to take the potion, if she'd convinced Petra that the trade was a bad idea, if she'd been able to save Gabriel in time, and not missed...</p><p>"Don't pretend you didn't know, <em>thief</em>," Ivor continued. "You took my most valuable potion and what should've been my moment of triumph!"</p><p>"I didn't take it!" Jesse whispered, weakly, feeling her eyes grow hot and scratchy. She rubbed to try to make the feeling go away. "I didn't take the p-potion... you were the one who set off a Wither i-in a theater full of people!"</p><p>"A Wither I could control," Ivor corrected, "until you showed up! There's nothing left up there! Nothing but that Wither Storm."</p><p>Jesse shook her head again, making her right barrette slip down again. Really, she needed to get better at fixing it. "I didn't... do anything," she said, but then at the same moment she said it, she realized that was what she'd done wrong. She'd done <em>nothing.</em> In every moment she could've done something, ANYTHING, to help out, or to stop this catastrophe, she'd been completely useless.</p><p>She didn't even realize she'd started crying until Olivia sounded alarmed. "Jesse? Are you okay?"</p><p>Jesse reached a hand to touch her face, before realizing her vision was blurry and that her fingertips were wet. She rubbed her arm over her face to get rid of the wetness. "Y-yeah." She couldn't start crying now- not when her friends needed her.</p><p>"Why are we wasting time talking to this jerk?" Axel asked, putting an arm around Jesse and gently squeezing. At least, Jesse assumed that he meant to be gentle- her breath caught and she squeaked as he accidentally squeezed some of the breath out of her. "We have to go and get Petra-"</p><p>Ivor's eyes widened. "The girl! I saw her."</p><p>"What?" Lukas whispered, head snapping up to look at him. "While I was running towards the portal, I passed her," Ivor added, "she was running in the opposite direction. Such bravery. Of course, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity."</p><p>Jesse's gaze fell on him. She probably should've hated him right then, acting as if he'd done nothing wrong and would DO nothing wrong.</p><p>But she just couldn't muster up the motivation to do so.</p><p>"And your friend has crossed it," Ivor sneered.</p><p>Jesse shook her head, frowning at him. "Don't talk about her like that." She spoke, raising her head and moving her left wave of hair out of the way. Her voice was low and scary, from trying to keep her temper.</p><p>Ivor jumped back again. Jesse's blood-red eye glowed, and in the hellish landscape of the Nether, making her face glow orange in the firelight, that one blood-red eye was glowing like a red-hot ember in the fire.</p><p>He regained his composure after a moment, as Jesse let go of the wave of hair and adjusted her barrette again. "Through that tunnel is a network of minecarts built by the Order of the Stone. It's your only way out."</p><p>"... I guess we should head that way," Axel agreed, grudgingly.</p><p>"Time's a-wasting, let's go," Lukas agreed with Axel.</p><p>Jesse looked at Ivor oddly. "What about you?"</p><p>"What about me?"</p><p>Jesse spread her arms out, making her sides tingle a bit as she spread out all six of them, "How are you going to get out of here?"</p><p>"I'll use my imagination," Ivor sneered.</p><p>Jesse glared at him again, but before she could snap at him a sound like a child making sad noises cut through the air. Everyone looked around. "What was that?" Axel wondered.</p><p>"I would wish you good luck," Ivor said, turning back to them, "but luck won't carry you through the Nether. You have my sympathies."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes. "Gee, that's so much more valuable. Thank you so much," she grumbled sarcastically.</p><p>He took out a potion and drank it, pink swirls wisping off of him as he began to glow. And then, all of a sudden, he was gone, the empty potion bottle falling to the ground.</p><p>The cry sounded again, and a big, white monster that Jesse recognized from her book of monsters (it was a gift from Olivia) as a ghast floated up behind them. Jesse let out a little gasp as it made another noise, but much, much angrier, and the eyes 'opened', revealing glowing red orbs that rivalled Jesse's.</p><p>Jesse and the others started backing away. "Run?" she asked, lightly, as if they faced up against ghasts every day.</p><p>"Run," Olivia agreed, and they all turned tail and ran for the tunnel Ivor had pointed out, the ghast chasing after them.</p><p>They reached a little hill where six minecarts sat on tracks, and ran for the minecarts, just as a fireball hit the area above it and made several stone-like blocks topple to the ground.</p><p>Jesse vaulted in after Reuben, Lukas jumping in a moment later and crouching on the floor of his, Olivia bleeping into the one behind him, and Axel clambered in as fast as he could, as the carts started moving, the ghast giving angry little cries behind them but giving no indication of following.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Deadly Roller Coaster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Wow," Lukas breathed as they rode over a large... well, ocean of lava, passing several lava falls. It was beautiful, in a really, really dangerous way.</p><p>"Yeah," Olivia agreed, looking around, "that's a lot of lava. And fire. And other things that could burn you to death."</p><p>Suddenly, Reuben let out a terrified squeal and crouched into his minecart.</p><p>Jesse paled. "Oh gosh," she said, quietly.</p><p>Ahead of them was a very long, very steep drop.</p><p>"Oh, that's a drop," Lukas said, eyes widening, ears flattening against his head, "that is very, very much a drop."</p><p>"What are you talking about, new guy?" Axel asked. "What droooH <em>crap!</em> You weren't kidding."</p><p>Reuben oinked in agreement.</p><p>"Get ready!" Jesse yelled, tightening her hands on the brim of the cart, before the drop took ahold, and her hair flew out behind her like a flag in the wind, eyes wide and mouth open in an almost perfect 'o' as her red eye and green eye took in the landscape.</p><p>They reached the bottom and barreled forward, still going at a high speed. Rocketing into a tunnel, a low wall was blocking space for their heads.</p><p>"Oh <em>no</em>," Jesse groaned, "who puts this stuff in?!"</p><p>They all ducked down with a yelp or a yell, but when they came back up, and Jesse glanced over her shoulder at her friends-</p><p>"Watch out!" Olivia shrieked, and Jesse ducked her head just in time.</p><p>They rocketed back out of the tunnel and were rushing over the ocean of lava again. They were headed straight for a lava fall. "Okay," Axel squeaked, "so, I'm not the only one who sees that we're running out of track, right?"</p><p>"No," Lukas responded.</p><p>"Good!"</p><p>Jesse leaned out as far as she could when she spotted a lever. "Ohh boy..."</p><p>"Jesse!" Olivia shouted, "that switch! Now! Flip it!"</p><p>Jesse bit her lip and then leaned out as far as she could, her fingers missing it-</p><p>Her other arm flailed out and smacked the switch over, flicking it to the other side and making the minecarts screech to a sudden stop, making all the passengers jolt violently.</p><p>Jesse giggled nervously. "Haha, wow! I thought we were going to die there, but, I guess everything's WOAH!" The last part was from the carts starting to move again, but splitting up and taking unexpected turns, everyone yelling.</p><p>Jesse found herself alone with an empty cart. For some reason, the one in the back had kept going along her track even though the others split up. She had no clue why whatsoever.</p><p>"Um... Axel?" she called into the eerie quietness, "Olivia? Lukas? Reuben? Hello?"</p><p>A loud squealing cut through the air, and Jesse twisted to see Reuben squealing in fear as a skeleton towered over him in his cart.</p><p>"What in- okay," and Jesse stood up as her cart switched so that she was right alongside Reuben, with her empty cart trailing behind her. "Hang in there, Reuben!" And she whipped out her gold sword, firelight glinting off the blade, before she smacked the sword straight into the skeleton, which turned to her, bow at full draw-</p><p>She sliced through the string, releasing the tension, and then slammed it back out of the cart and into the lava below. "Reuben!" she said, relieved, and Reuben let out a happy oink and hopped into Jesse's empty cart.</p><p>Well, now it wasn't empty, since it was full of small pink pig, but she was glad it was full.</p><p>"Okay, so, I know I said- well, was trying to say- that everything would be okay? Well, I was wrong then, but I have a good feeling about oh <em>ships of the ocean</em>," she groaned as a ghast soared over her head, turning around to face the two of them with two more backing it up.</p><p>She groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "God dammit!" she cried out in frustration.</p><p>The middle ghast shot a fireball, and Jesse ducked down, squeezing her eyes shut, one hand bracing herself on the minecart and the one holding the sword instinctively blocking. She felt a rebounding feeling on her sword, and opened her eyes just in time to see the fireball hitting the ghast, injuring it.</p><p>She looked at her sword, eyes hardening. "Right!" And she straightened up, swinging with her sword and rebounding to hit the ghast again, which killed it and sent it plummeting into the lava below.</p><p>As she kept smacking away fireballs, the thought occurred to her that this was like a game of baseball. A very, very deadly game of baseball.</p><p>At one point, she nearly fumbled the sword and dropped it from the force of one of the fireballs, but one of her lower arms caught it and passed it back up to Jesse. For once, she was actually really happy about this development.</p><p>The other two ghasts fell into the lava below, and Jesse let out a relieved gasp. "Whew- okay- not dead. That's pretty good," and she looked over at her pig, who'd popped back out from where he'd been crouching. "Well, ghasts are officially off my to-see list. Done with 'em. Never need to see them again ahhh crap."</p><p>The last two words came from her catching sight of a nearby ghast through a hole in the wall, as they turned the corner to see that ghast hovering near the track, which went up and up... and then ran out entirely.</p><p>The ghast shot another fireball, and Reuben let out a terrified squeal and leaped out of the minecart just in time, landing in Jesse's lap as the fireball made contact and sent the cart into the lava. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad," Jesse repeated over and over, as if it were some bizarre mantra that would save her life, going up the track that would probably send them straight to their doom. All six of her hands tightened on the minecart.</p><p>Jesse screamed as the cart vaulted off the tracks, soaring into the open air, right past the ghast- so close that Jesse could probably have touched it if she'd cared to, Reuben squealing in fear as they flew right past the ghast.</p><p>And then the cart started obeying the laws of gravity again, and they slammed down onto a set of tracks and abruptly connected to a minecart right in front of them.</p><p>Axel, Olivia, and Lukas twisted around to see her.</p><p>Jesse was panting in fear, eyes still wide and all six arms clutching the rim of the minecart so tightly that her knuckles her white. "Is... is everyone okay?" she finally panted out.</p><p>A short silence. "I mean, I'm not <em>dead</em>," Axel said, turning back to face the front, face pale. "I guess that's pretty good."</p><p>"Ditto," Olivia conceded, "ditto on the not dead."</p><p>"I can't believe Petra comes down here all the time," Lukas said, his ears flattened against his head, "this place is awful."</p><p>After a few seconds, Lukas joked weakly, "your throat's gonna be sore later, Axel."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"I'm just saying, wasn't that you doing all that screaming before? Sounded like you were really shredding your larynx."</p><p>"Oh yeah," and Olivia twisted to face the blonde, "I heard that too. Really high-pitched? Sounded kind of like a squeaky piston?"</p><p>"What?" Axel asked, "No. Shut up."</p><p>"Never mind," Lukas was smiling a little bit, "must've been something else."</p><p>"You know those experiences people talk about and reminisce on for the rest of their lives?" Jesse asked.</p><p>Everyone twisted to face her again, a confused look on their faces. They nodded slowly.</p><p>Jesse's face went deadpan. "This is not one of those. Let's never speak of this again."</p><p>"I think I'd be good with that," Olivia agreed.</p><p>The minecarts rattled on.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Out of the Nether</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Can you throw up inside your body?" Jesse wondered as they climbed their way up a set of stairs.</p><p>Olivia nodded. "Uh huh. I know, because I just did. About five times."</p><p>They reached the top of the steps to see a small circle of land, multiple minecart tracks leading to and from it. Archways were looping over each other above them, and Jesse had to take a moment to appreciate it. "Wow," she breathed, "wow, wow, wow! Just <em>look</em> at this place!"</p><p>"All of these tracks converge at this point," Olivia nodded, looking just as awed, both eyes lighting up. Jesse had to squint a second, was Olivia's right eye getting even brighter? And was the skin getting darker? "You could probably get anywhere in the world from here!"</p><p>"There's the portal!" And there it was, looking just as nice as the one that had been destroyed. At least it was lit.</p><p>Lukas nodded. "This is what Gabriel was talking about."</p><p>"That's our way out!" Axel exclaimed, walking forward.</p><p>"It must lead back up to the surface," Olivia mused, crossing her arms.</p><p>Lukas's ears flattened, looking worried. "The surface is also where that creature is."</p><p>At this, Axel came to a sudden stop.</p><p>"Oh, holy crap, he's right," Jesse realized, putting a hand to her mouth, "we have no clue what we're walking into. It could be... really, really dangerous."</p><p>Axel bit his lip and started turning back to the portal.</p><p>"I call dibs on going first!" Jesse called out, waving her arm, and Axel glanced back at her, a grateful look in his eyes but a pout on his face. "Aw, I wanted to go first..." he whined.</p><p>"Too bad, I called dibs," Jesse joked, poking him in the ribs and making him grin a little at her. "Besides, I've got the six arms. I'll be fine."</p><p>She stepped in front of the swirling purple of the portal, and looked back at the rest of them. "Well, see you guys on the other side, I guess."</p><p>"Be careful," Olivia said, looking concerned.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse," Axel added.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath, turned around, and walked into the portal.</p><p>Icy hot air crept over her, as the world turned a faint shade of purple again. Around her, purple wisps swam and curled and vanished around her, until she could see something-</p><p>She stepped into a body of water, freezing water soaking into her socks. Looking around, she saw that it was still nighttime, a waterfall flooding into the body of water she was in and two other ones pouring over the edge.</p><p>"Huh. Not what I was expecting," Jesse hummed, wading into the water, as she heard another groan.</p><p>She twisted- a zombie was approaching.</p><p>Jesse let out a yelp and held out her palm instinctively. Silk fired and hit the zombie, and using all her strength, Jesse twisted and threw the zombie over the edge of the waterfall, before ripping the silk off. It fell who knew how far.</p><p>Axel stepped through the portal, blinking as he saw Jesse scraping her hand off on a rock nearby. She looked up at her burly friend. "There was a zombie," she explained, as she stepped over to some stairs leading out of the pool of water.</p><p>"Oh. Is it dead?" Axel asked.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "I mean, I tossed it over the edge, so I don't know. It could be? Most likely it is..."</p><p>She got out of the water and shook some of it off into the grass, as Olivia and Lukas followed through, looking around at the grass and the trees around her. "Where are we?" Olivia wondered.</p><p>"In the dark. In what seems like... the middle of nowhere," Jesse decided.</p><p>"Maybe we should bed down for the night," Lukas suggested, "it's dangerous to be out when it's this dark."</p><p>"Thought we were headed for a temple," Axel responded.</p><p>Olivia shrugged. "We're looking for a giant building. It should be pretty obvious."</p><p>"Ivor said-" Lukas began, but Axel cut him off. "Ohh, 'Ivor said'. Well then maybe this is the temple. I'm being sarcastic."</p><p>Olivia frowned at the burly boy in front of her. "Axel, c'mon."</p><p>"We have to build a shelter," Jesse cut in before the two of them could start bickering.</p><p>Lukas blinked, his ears twitching. "I, thought that was what I said, but... um..."</p><p>"Let's just build a hut," Jesse said quickly. "We can just block the entrance with some dirt blocks, and... we'll be fine. It's just for tonight, anyways."</p><p>"Yeah," Axel agreed. "A treehouse'll be spider town. I hate spiders."</p><p>Jesse sent Axel a deadpan look. Axel backpedaled, realizing his mistake. "I mean, except for you, Jesse. I mean, you're not trying to suck our blood or anything like that. Don't spiders eat like that?"</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes and put her arm in front of her face. "I vant to suck your blood," she joked, and Axel cracked a grin when he realized she was joking.</p><p>She dropped her arm and looked over at Olivia and Lukas. "This'll probably be faster, anyways."</p><p>They shrugged, and they spent about twenty minutes using dirt to build a small hut, before going inside. Jesse stacked two blocks in front of the 'entrance'. "And... there. No monsters can get in now."</p><p>After about another ten minutes, Lukas learned he could make sparks by raking his claws (yes, he had claws, and he showed them to them with a face that was basically saying 'holy crap') on some stone, and they'd built a pretty decent fire.</p><p>Jesse was just sitting next to the fire, Axel standing, and Lukas sitting in the corner a little ways from all of them.</p><p>"Oh man!"</p><p>"What?" Olivia asked Axel, who'd suddenly exclaimed.</p><p>"I'm going to tell you something," said Axel, "you have to promise not to freak out."</p><p>Jesse blinked at her burly friend. "What?"</p><p>He turned back around and held out a handful of cookies. "I have <em>cookies.</em>"</p><p>"One for me," he handed one over to Olivia, then Jesse, "one for Olivia. One for Jesse."</p><p>"Thanks, Axel," Jesse said gratefully, raising the cookie to her mouth, but stopping when she saw Lukas looking at it. He made eye contact with her and looked away. "And one for... Reuben." And Axel set the last cookie in front of Reuben, who started nibbling it hungrily.</p><p>"Sorry, Lukas. I only have four," Axel 'apologized' to Lukas.</p><p>Jesse frowned at Axel, as Lukas shook his head, glancing away from them all, "Oh no. It's- it's okay. I'm not that hungry anyway."</p><p>His stomach growled a little, and there was a short, awkward silence.</p><p>Lukas spoke up again, awkwardly, "I'll just... grab something in the morning. Or something."</p><p>Jesse pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the male, holding out the cookie. Lukas stared at her blankly. "Take it."</p><p>Lukas's eyes widened. "Oh... no, no... Jesse, you already got me out of that basement... I-I can't do that-"</p><p>Jesse reached down, took his hand, and pushed the cookie into it gently. "I insist."</p><p>Lukas opened his mouth to say something, before stopping. He then smiled at Jesse, gratefulness shining in his eyes. "I... thanks, Jesse," he thanked the raven-haired girl.</p><p>She patted him on the head, making him squint his eyes shut, before plopping back down next to the fire.</p><p>"That was for you, Jesse," Axel said, scowling a little. "Not him."</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "I'm not that hungry anyway."</p><p>Her stomach growled as well. She rolled her eyes. "Stomach, why hast thou betrayed me," she joked, making Olivia and Lukas chuckle weakly.</p><p>Another silence as the sounds of eating took over the conversation.</p><p>Finally, Olivia looked over at Lukas, and spoke, "If you had to, which would you rather fight: A hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie sized chickens?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Arguments and Journals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lukas gave a small chuckle. "That's a good one. Let me think."</p><p>"How can you guys joke at a time like this?" Axel snapped,"Petra's still out there. She's all by herself. There's nothing funny about that."</p><p>Jesse shrugged at her friend, her faint smile faltering. "Axel, Petra can handle herself. If she can handle the Nether as casually as she does, she can survive. She wouldn't mind at all. She'd want us to keep our spirits up."</p><p>Axel's sharp expression softened. "If I were her, I'd... I dunno. It just feels wrong."</p><p>"Fine then," Lukas conceded, standing up, "we should probably get some rest. We gotta start looking for this temple as early as we can. Now, my guess is, if we start at the portal, and... kind of split up-"</p><p>"Whoa, what are you doing?" Axel snapped at Lukas.</p><p>"Did I do something to you?" Lukas asked, his eyes hardening. His tail- and yes, he did have a tail- flicked a little bit, as did his ears, which showed that he was getting agitated. "I'd really like to know. You keep getting on my case for what seems like no reason."</p><p>"He's just trying to help, Axel," Jesse said, pushing herself to her feet.</p><p>"I'm sorry, Jesse," Axel apologized to her, "I'm not going to sit here and listen to this guy telling us what's what."</p><p>Lukas glared at him. "I'm just trying to get ready for tomorrow."</p><p>"You're the only one wearing that stupid jacket," Axel shot back, "don't tell us what to do."</p><p>Luka's eyes seemed to glow a bit, the pupils narrowing into slits and the whites of his eyes filling up with the green-blue irises. "Take. That. Back," he hissed, his hair starting to stand up on end. It didn't take a genius to tell he was pissed.</p><p>"Can't. Wouldn't." Axel snapped.</p><p>"You know what?" Lukas stepped toward Axel, even though he was a full head shorter, "I get to wear this jacket because I know how to build. But that doesn't mean I don't know how to break things."</p><p>"Your threats don't scare me," Axel hissed, backing away from Lukas a little bit, "now that we know how you really are."</p><p>"Jesse, your friend is way out of line!" Lukas's head snapped to Jesse, "I wasn't going to bring it up, but I can only take so much."</p><p>Jesse crossed all of her arms, sending all of them a look. "Let's just drop it."</p><p>"Don't be like that, Jesse," Axel said.</p><p>Jesse repeated herself slowly. "Just. Drop it."</p><p>Axel ignored her instead, turning back to Lukas, "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" And he shoved Lukas backwards, making the shorter boy stumble, "Petra might be <em>dead</em> because of you."</p><p>"Axel, what the heck?!" Olivia exclaimed.</p><p>Lukas hissed again, angrily. "I don't have to take this. Listen, why don't I just leave, and let you guys hash this out-"</p><p>"You are not going anywhere," Jesse snapped back immediately, and all of them looked a bit taken aback at the fact that she was snapping, and the look on her face. "Axel, stop antagonizing Lukas."</p><p>"But, Jesse-"</p><p>Jesse made a chopping motion with her hand, cutting him off. "No. That's enough. We are all on the same team right now. He's <em>staying</em>."</p><p>They all sat back down by the fire, Axel staying standing. He glared at the fire as if it had personally offended him.</p><p>A long silence stretched out, interrupted only by the sound of thunder, and then rain, before Jesse sighed, making them all look at her. "Since we're all going to just sit here in silence forever unless <em>someone</em> says something," she pulled out the leatherbound book, but made no move to open it, "perhaps we can all talk about our being hybrids."</p><p>Everyone stared at the floor silently.</p><p>Everyone looked up at her as she raised the book, "Does anyone here recognize the symbol?" And she poked it with her finger.</p><p>Axel leaned in, before stiffening, the glare in his eyes fading to a look of shock as he stepped back. Lukas flinched a little as Axel 'accidentally' stepped on his tail, but didn't say anything. Olivia's eyes widened when she got a good look at it, and Lukas nodded faintly.</p><p>"Thought so. I found this in Ivor's weird basement. This book must have... well, <em>something</em> at least, to do with us, if we're all able to recognize it. Now, what exactly it entails, I have no clue..." Jesse looked down, one hand resting on the cover.</p><p>"But it has to do with our being hybrids. Does anyone know how, by any chance?"</p><p>Axel shook his head, slowly. "No. I didn't even know until I exploded earlier. I was just... I didn't even know before that," he finished, lamely.</p><p>"I didn't even realize I was an Enderman until I teleported. I never realized that my right eye was..." Olivia trailed off, putting a hand over her right eye.</p><p>Lukas shook his head as well. "I never knew," he said, quietly, looking as though he were in shock.</p><p>"Neither did I. I suspected, since this morning... I guess it was confirmed when I started being able to use my string abilities." Another short silence. "I don't know how we're hybrids, or how we never knew." Another silence. "I guess we'll find out in a minute."</p><p>Her fingers slowly slid under the cover and flipped it open to the first page.</p><p>The handwriting was pretty messy, but still legible. It was pretty obvious that the writer of the entry was pretty scatterbrained from all of the crossing outs and wandering spacing.</p><p>"'The Bureau of Amalgamology contacted us today. What they do it <em>fascinating</em>, they create hybrids. Mixes of animal and human, or in this case, monsters and humans. They've taken about five children- mainly because children are less likely to fight back too much, apparently- and injected monster DNA that was painstakingly taken from the monsters. The effects have been extraordinary, according to them, and they said they'd be honored if we came to look at them. Ellegaard-'"</p><p>Olivia interrupted here. "<em>Ellegaard?</em> Like, Order of the Stone Ellegaard?"</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "I don't know any other Ellegaards in existence." Then she continued. "'Ellegaard and Magnus are all for it. Gabriel thinks it might be interesting, and even Ivor-'"</p><p>"Wait, Ivor?"</p><p>Jesse gave a joking, long-suffering sigh at all the interruptions, but she was grinning a little. "Yep. Maybe he worked with the Order before, and that's how he knows them? It might explain why he seemed to have such a grudge with Gabriel," she suggested.</p><p>Axel had sat down now, and Lukas shrugged. "I guess that makes sense."</p><p>"'Even Ivor thinks it would be fascinating to see them. I honestly cannot deny that I'm a little curious, so, tomorrow, we'll head to their lab and have a visit with the children. ~Soren.'"</p><p>Jesse looked up from the book. "The handwriting changes in this next part. 'We arrived at the lab yesterday. The children are all very small, no older than 5 or 6 years old. The scientists told us they were all very dangerous, but really they seem quite harmless. They were all very frightened when we first entered the room, but after only a few minutes they warmed up to us. Ivor took the spider hybrid and the two of them read together for a bit. Her hair was very short, only about chin-length. I guess it's too much trouble to keep it long. Anyway, the Enderman hybrid developed a fascination with redstone after a couple of minutes with me. I think I like her! And Magnus had fun with his creeper hybrid. I think Gabriel liked the Blaze hybrid, and Soren and the ocelot hybrid had some fun together as well, although none of these boys would ever admit it. Boys. ~Ellegaard.'"</p><p>Jesse looked up at them again. "This next entry is a couple of weeks later. 'Today we couldn't stay that long, but we decided to name our hybrids. And great, we're already considering them 'our' hybrids. We just happen to like spending most of our time with the kid we spend time with. It's too much trouble to just keep pointing and go 'hey you'. Soren went first with his ocelot hybrid. He took about ten minutes to name the kid Lukas, with a k and not a c because he thought it sounded cool.'"</p><p>Jesse looked up, speechless, at her friends, before back down at the book. "'Then I got to go. My dad always wanted to name me Axel and often fought with my mom about it before I was born apparently. So I decided to use that name. It's a pretty... good one.'" Jesse faltered and looked up again, before back down. "Um, 'Ellegaard got to go next, and decided on Olivia. I don't know why. It's kind of a boring name in my opinion. Gabriel decided to name the Blaze hybrid... Petra. And...'" Jesse broke out of her reading voice to gulp, before finishing, "'Ivor spent about ten minutes before naming the spider hybrid... Jesse. I don't get some of these names, but whatever. ~Magnus.'"</p><p>All of them looked at each other, silently staring at one another in shock. No one said anything.</p><p>Really, there was nothing they <em>could</em> say.</p><p>Jesse finally, quietly, shut the book. "I think that's enough reading for tonight."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. The Temple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, they started out.</p><p>Jesse noticed Lukas walking along and staring at the ground, so she backed up so that they were walking at around the same speed. "Hey Lukas... sorry about last night," she said, putting her lowest pair of arms in her pocket. One hand rubbed against the book, making her look at the ground.</p><p>Lukas shook his head, a wry smile coming onto his face. "You don't have to be... I'm, more embarrassed than anything, to be honest."</p><p>Jesse nodded, before speeding up. After a couple of minutes, they came to what looked like a big wall. Scrambling up it with ease and ignoring the vines that covered the rock surface- seriously, how was she climbing up that surface?- she got to the top, and her mouth fell open. "Wow!"</p><p>"What? What is it?" Lukas's head popped up next, as Olivia bleeped into sight and nearly fell off the top of the wall again. Axel clambered up behind them, grumbling under his breath, but his eyes widened and the scowl fell right off his face. "Wow," he agreed, breathlessly.</p><p>In front of them stood a huge building, and although it did have it's own ethereal beauty, it was admittedly quite rundown. Vines crawled over most of the surfaces, except for a huge stained glass emblem that hung over the 'entrance'.</p><p>Jesse squinted at it for a second. Where had she seen that design...</p><p>Her eyes widened, and she rifled through her pockets as Axel mused, "I wonder what this place is..."</p><p>"It's the Order of the Stone temple! Look!" And Jesse lifted up the amulet out of her pocket, and held it up to the one that made up the emblem over the entrance.</p><p>Lukas let out a low whistle, and Olivia said, sounding rather impressed, "Well would you look at that."</p><p>"Do you think they're in there?"</p><p>Jesse frowned and looked up at the building. "It's pretty run-down, Axel. So I don't think so. Still," and she shrugged and walked towards the building, "there has to be SOMETHING there that's useful somehow. C'mon!"</p><p>And they jumped down the hill that made up the other side of the 'wall', walking into the entrance. The archway, bright and cheerful, gave way to a dark, much creepier atmosphere. Cobwebs strung themselves everywhere in the tunnel, or hallway, or whatever they were walking through.</p><p>"If you see anything, call it out. We don't have too much time," Jesse told her friends, who all nodded affirmatively.</p><p>Jesse soon found herself rubbing the red leatherbound book with her fingers, rubbing the cover so many times that she was pretty sure she'd memorized the textures.</p><p>Axel looked over at the wall as the tunnel opened up to a lighter one. "Isn't it weird how dispensers are made to look like faces?"</p><p>Jesse looked over at the wall as well. The wall was lined with dispensers, and they did indeed look a little like spooky little faces. "What do you dispense, little guy?" Axel wondered.</p><p>Olivia winced a bit. "I... get the feeling we don't want to find out."</p><p>A hiss behind them, making them all look over their shoulders. "What was that?"</p><p>Another hiss, and Reuben let out an alarmed squeal and galloped away.</p><p>"Reuben!" Jesse exclaimed, and she chased after her pig.</p><p>Two loud thunks, and Jesse looked down to see that two pressure plates had been pressed down. "Ah, crap. That's... bad," she stated. Really, understatement of the century, here.</p><p>The dispensers started making the 'starting up' sounds, indicating they were about to fire at them. "Aw, c'mon dispenser faces!" Axel complained to the dispensers, "I thought we were friends!"</p><p>"Run!" Olivia yelled.</p><p>Easy for her to say. She just teleported out of the way of the arrows into a spot that didn't have any firing. Jesse jumped out of the way and found herself on the wall, horizontally. She yelped and scrambled across the wall, dodging the arrows. Reuben had galloped after Olivia, and he was fine, so she focused her attention on the two boys with them as she hopped into the empty space with Olivia.</p><p>Lukas was doing pretty well- his slight stature and thin build allowed him to slip and dodge around the arrows that were firing. Axel, by sheer luck, dodged around them without getting hit. Jesse let out a loud, relieved sigh.</p><p>"Oh <em>no</em>," groaned Olivia.</p><p>Jesse considered the next stretch of hallway, which had even more arrows flying through the air. She turned back to the entrance, crossing her arms. "Hm. Well, we could build something to try to trigger that pressure plate again..." she mused.</p><p>Lukas twisted his lips, ears twitching a bit. "Hmmm... or, we could have Olivia teleport onto one of them..." he suggested.</p><p>Jesse considered the arrow-filled hallway. "Well, I don't think that's a good idea- see, the arrows also go through the area where they are, so Olivia could get hurt," she pointed out.</p><p>Lukas had to tilt his head to see it. "Ohh, you're right. I didn't see that before," he apologized.</p><p>Jesse bit her lip. "Hmm... okay, everyone, empty your pockets. We've got to have something that we could use."</p><p>Lukas pulled out a bundle of sticks. "I've got some sticks from building the shelter last night," he suggested.</p><p>Olivia scrabbled through her pockets. "Hmm, all I've got is some flint and... a piece of string," and she held out what she had.</p><p>Axel pulled out some feathers. "All I've got are some feathers from when that chicken machine broke back at Endercon," he said, a few of the feathers falling onto the floor.</p><p>"Hm, I've got the book... the amulet... and a sword. Oh, and I could definitely make some string," Jesse said, pulling some string out as her contribution.</p><p>"Okay, sticks, flint, string, and feathers. We gotta be able to make SOMETHING with that," Axel said, looking at their rather pathetic contributions.</p><p>Jesse stared at them, willing an idea to come to her- when one did. "A bow and arrow wouldn't work. It might get knocked off course. But..." She pulled some string out and quickly wove a small pouch, before popping the flint inside the pouch. She attached some string to it that still trailed to her palm, aimed, and then fired.</p><p>The makeshift weight flew through the air, hit the floor, rolled a bit, bounced, and landed right on top of the pressure plate, switching it off. Jesse retracted the flint- which decided to be TOO fast this time and flew into her palm so fast that she was lucky to wrap her fingers around it. It took a second to detach the string from her palm and return the flint to its rightful owner.</p><p>"All right," Olivia said with a grin.</p><p>"The Bureau of Amalgamology's luck is changing," Axel grinned.</p><p>Jesse nodded, and they continued through the hallway until they reached what looked like a library- only, it was covered in cobwebs.</p><p>"Isn't this room like Ivor's creepy basement?" Axel wondered.</p><p>Jesse hummed. "Yeah, kinda is. Must be their enchanting room or something like that."</p><p>"Looks like it," Lukas agreed.</p><p>They all went in and started splitting up to go look through the stuff.</p><p>Jesse shoved open a chest, coughing a little as a dust cloud rose from it, before reaching in and withdrawing a red cloak, with about three buttons. It felt pretty nice. Thick, too.</p><p>Jesse looked over at Lukas, who happened to be the nearest person to her. "Lukas, you think the Order will mind if I borrow a cloak to hide... uh... this situation here?" And she gestured at her other four arms with one hand, the other five holding onto the cloak.</p><p>Lukas shrugged in return. "Probably not. And if they do you can apologize and return it, after all."</p><p>"True." And Jesse swung it over her shoulders, fastening up the buttons. Lukas looked back to her from his shelf-perusing and whistled a little. "Huh. You look good in red."</p><p>Jesse looked down at herself. "Oh. Thanks, I guess."</p><p>Lukas gave her a smile and a thumbs up, before returning to the shelf.</p><p>Jesse spotted something, and walked towards it, before coming upon a book with a red cover, but gold edges and a few diamonds embedded in it. It looked very fancy, hovering on the obsidian block that supported it.</p><p>"Hmm," she hummed thoughtfully.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Please Hurry</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"The battle was fierce," Jesse read aloud, having to squint to read the quaky handwriting. It looked as though someone had written it while riding on a horse. On a completely unrelated note, Jesse would really like to have a horse. "But the Order of the Stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and ensuring that peace and prosperity would reign forever."</p><p>"Well," Lukas commented, coming over to Jesse, "not exactly <em>forever.</em>"</p><p>Jesse grinned a little, before looking back at the book. "These... five friends, would give so much to gain their rightful place, as <em>five</em> heroes. They would author their own end. They would slay a dragon," and the next page flipped to an illustration.</p><p>Jesse gaped. The fifth member was... was...</p><p>"<em>Ivor</em> was a member of the Order of the Stone?" Olivia stared at the book, mouth open, "the stories never mentioned him."</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms and stared at the picture, brow furrowing. "This would definitely explain why Ivor was in that journal we found... and of course would explain why he had such a grudge towards Gabriel."</p><p>"This is so... crazy," Lukas breathed.</p><p>Olivia frowned. "They lied to us," she said, crossing her arms, "They lied to the whole world!"</p><p>"Why would they do that?" Axel wondered.</p><p>"This is so crazy," Lukas repeated, as if he really couldn't believe it.</p><p>Jesse let out a little sigh. "The Order might've lied, but we need their help if we're going to defeat this Witherstorm. And Petra is still out there. That monster, is still out there."</p><p>Lukas nodded. "Jesse's right," he agreed, pulling himself together, "we should focus on what we came here to do."</p><p>Olivia walked over to a white staircase, looking at it curiously. "Where do these stairs go?" she wondered, craning her neck up as she followed the staircase.</p><p>Jesse shrugged at her friend, stepping onto the steps. "Only one way to find out." And they all trekked up the stairs.</p><p>Jesse felt her mouth fall open as she came up the stairs, and her eyes widened. "Wow!" she gasped as she emerged into what used to be a large room, but now there were holes in the floor and the walls were crumbling. Even without the walls and falling apart, it was ethereally beautiful, especially in the light of the still-rising sun.</p><p>"What happened to the walls?" Axel wondered, looking around with shining eyes.</p><p>"More like what happened to this whole place..." Jesse mumbled, before looking around. "Let's all look around- there has to be something- something that'll use the amulet somehow-" she waved the amulet to punctuate her point, "to find the rest of the Order of the Stone."</p><p>They all split up. Jesse looked around, and opened the journal as she sat down on a small wooden stair nearby, unsure what else to do. Maybe the journal contained a clue?</p><p>
  <em>'These children are tested every other week, according to the scientists. They all excel in the speed tests, apparently, but when the other tests come into play it's more murky. Some attacks are very good, but they do not like using them. Or, sometimes the child will have aversions towards fighting in general. Apparently some of the children cannot control their talents, or powers, or whatever you wish to call them. The one I have 'custody' of- Petra- apparently nearly burned down the entire lab the previous week.'</em>
</p><p>Jesse smirked a bit at that. Good going, Petra.</p><p>
  <em>'However, the children all get along very well with one another, and are kept in the same room for the sake of easier monitoring. At least, I believe that's how the scientists put it. I don't mind. It makes it easier to visit them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>~ Gabriel</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'I don't really know what to write here. We have a couple more weeks before we have to fight the dragon. We've told the children so, and most of them want to come with us. Except for my hybrid and Soren's. Both of them don't seem to like the idea of fighting very much, and would much prefer sit in a corner and read if they had to. Although whenever they spar with us, they find it very enjoyable- Jesse's already gotten very good at it herself, and knocked me down the other day.'</em>
</p><p>Jesse had to grin with pride at that.</p><p>
  <em>'I don't think I would be able to recognize any of these children if I didn't see them for an extended period of time to be honest, not unless they were in their full hybrid form, like they are usually in now. I honestly don't know if I would remember them very well even then, however- I don't tag along all that often. I'm usually too busy making healing potions for whenever Gabriel and Magnus decide to have one of their idiotic competitions and end up in a ditch somewhere. Gabriel tells me whenever they go that Jesse often asks for me. Which is pleasing, but... I have to be ready for the dragon. We all have to be ready.</em>
</p><p><em>~ Ivor</em>'</p><p>Well, that at least explained why Ivor hadn't even seemed to recognize her.</p><p>Jesse shut the book again- the journal didn't talk about anything related to the current task.</p><p>As she got up, she spotted a flash of color and twisted to see it. On an old, white flag, Jesse found a beautifully sewn version of the amulet blazened across it. She looked up at the space above it, before climbing up a bit and popping it into place. The amulet reflected the rising sun into her eyes, making her squint and climb back down.</p><p>Walking back over to a table with lots of levers, she looked at them, before her eyes lit up a little. "This looks like a puzzle," she said quietly to herself. "I like puzzles."</p><p>Looking around, she experimentally flipped on and off the switches, lighting up the lights next to the map plastered across the wall. She hummed, and began to test them out, trying out some patterns. It took her five minutes before she toggled another switch, all the lights glowed, and a blazing beam of light shot from the lantern in the middle of the table, hit the center of the amulet, and sent two colored beams of light at the map.</p><p>Jesse whistled, as Olivia commented, arching her eyebrow with a small smile, "Okay. <em>Now</em> I'm impressed."</p><p>"This must be what Gabriel wanted us to find," Jesse commented, "it's showing where the Order of the Stone is, right now!"</p><p>Lukas frowned a bit. "There're only two lights... we don't know anything about how this map works. It might not show them when they're in the End or the Nether."</p><p>Jesse nodded, looking at the red and green beams of light shining on two entirely different parts of Minecraftia. "If there are only two heroes left then we know what we have to do. Petra's relying on us, and that Witherstorm is still out there. Gabriel was trying to tell me to find the Order of the Stone. So... I think the options are... Ellegaard," the red light, "and Magnus."</p><p>Lukas frowned. "I can't go with any of you guys."</p><p>Four startled pairs of eyes turned to Lukas, as he continued, "if there's any chance Petra is still out there, I have to make this place fortified and safe by nightfall. I have to stay here. If I know her, she's doing everything she can to find this place." He looked around, before giving them a sheepish look. "Um, this temple is pretty big though. Maybe if one of you could stay behind and help me?"</p><p>"Sounds like Olivia'll have you covered while Jesse and I go look for Magnus," Axel nodded.</p><p>Olivia gave Axel a look. "Finding Magnus? You really think that's how it's going to go? We need Ellegaard. She's the world's smartest engineer. She'd figure a way to stop that thing."</p><p>"We're trying to destroy it," Axel pointed out, "and when it comes to destruction, Magnus is the master."</p><p>Jesse pinched her lips together thoughtfully. "Hmm, honestly, if we need to fortify the temple, Olivia should stay behind- no offense, Axel, but-"</p><p>Axel waved it off, pumping his fist. "None taken. It means we get to go find Magnus!"</p><p>Jesse shrugged, feeling her other shoulders move as well. "Okay, you could take it that way." She turned back to her friend, adjusting the cloak around her shoulders. "Olivia, could you help Lukas and stay behind to fortify the temple?"</p><p>Olivia shrugged as well. "Sure."</p><p>Jesse hesitated for a minute- Olivia was stubborn, far too much so to just agree without any argument whatsoever- before waving it off. Maybe Olivia just wanted to stay behind and help? Of course. It was Petra.</p><p>"Let's get ready to roll, Axel."</p><p>"Um.. guys?"</p><p>A sound like thunder rolled through the sky, and Jesse turned to see what Lukas was staring at- the silhouette of the giant Witherstorm writhing in the distance.</p><p>"Please hurry."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Entering Boom Town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The minecarts rattled along the track, Axel's cheer resounding in the air. "Woo-hoo!" he cheered.</p><p>Jesse glanced back at her friend, adjusting the cloak. It was a very nice cloak, but in a place comprised mostly of fire, lava, and other things that could burn you to death, it was hot as all hell in there.</p><p>"Aw, come on, Jesse, you're not even having a little fun? I mean, I am!"</p><p>Jesse chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Axel, your idea of fun is a tad bit different than mine. Besides, we need to get to Magnus as soon as freaking possible."</p><p>Axel nodded, still grinning. "Yeah. You're right. We're gonna find Magnus, bring him back to the temple, and he'll know how to blow that thing sky high!"</p><p>The two of them grinned at each other, before Axel's eyes moved up and he sucked in a huge breath. "Um... Jesse?"</p><p>Jesse twisted back around and felt her mouth drop open. Right before them was a rather angry ghast. And they were headed right towards it.</p><p>"... well crap," Jesse had enough time to state, before a fireball flew at the carts and sent them flying off the tracks, all three of them soaring into the air and towards a large body of lava-</p><p>Jesse shot a strand of silk, catching a ledge, and she swung into Axel, who grabbed Reuben, and all of three of them slammed full-force into the stone thing, which Jesse was <em>fairly</em> certain was called netherrack. The three of them clambered to their feet, their hearts all pounding. "Whew, thanks Jesse," Axel thanked his friend.</p><p>"No problem. Hide!" And Jesse yanked the burly male behind a pile of netherrack as a fireball barely missed him and plowed into the ground. Panting, they looked at each other, then back at the minecarts- which was about to fall into the lava below.</p><p>Jesse said something very softly that should not be repeated.</p><p>"Hurry," Axel said urgently, "use something on that ghast!"</p><p>Jesse flicked out her sword, just as another fireball blasted through the netherrack they'd taken refuge behind.</p><p>Screaming, they scattered, Axel sprinting for the minecarts and Jesse whipping around to face the ghast. A fireball came right at her, and she flicked the blade sharply and sent the fireball flying right back at the ghast, injuring it.</p><p>It shot another one and Jesse was forced to use her string-move again to rappel her out of the way as it came far too low for her to properly hit. Hanging from a ledge rather high up, Jesse flipped so that she was upside down- for some reason, she felt rather comfortable in that position. She wasn't a bat!- and swung the sword as hard as she could as the ghast fired at her again.</p><p>The fireball glanced off the blade and rebounded at the ghast, which flashed red and fell to it's side, vanishing in a flash of smoke.</p><p>Axel grinned up at Jesse as he pulled the minecarts back up, and Jesse let herself down, flipping over and letting the cloak fall back over her arms as though she'd done it a thousand times before.</p><p>"Well aren't you the expert," Axel teased, "Miss Fancy Flipper."</p><p>Jesse bowed sarcastically, bending at the waist. "Thank you, Sergeant Sarcasm," she teased back, before the two of them laughed. Reuben bounded over to Jesse and she patted him gently on the head. "Okay, let's get going!"</p><p>Axel hopped into the front, and Jesse leaped into the middle cart with Reuben in the back just as the minecarts took off again. "You were awesome, seriously. With that ghast, and chasing the minecart... this is the perfect warmup for when we get to Boom Town!"</p><p>Jesse probably should've been shocked by the name, but when discovering that you were apparently a hybrid that had Spider-man powers, and your friends were also hybrids, it's kind of hard to get shocked. So she just raised an eyebrow. "Boom Town."</p><p>"Yeah! Boom Town!"</p><p>They passed a sign with rainbow letters that read !BoOmtoWn!</p><p>Jesse glanced at the sign. "That sign is making my inner grammar nerd rise," she joked, making Axel snicker again.</p><p>The minecarts finally came to a stop, another portal with a rainbow, badly written sign next to it. "This is it!" Axel said, practically dancing with excitement. Jesse rolled her eyes at her friend, but still smiled at him.</p><p>Stopping just in front of the portal, Jesse arched her eyebrow at Axel. "Well? Ready to go in? You could probably get away with exploding, Axel. You know, as a creeper."</p><p>Axel's face developed a thoughtful look. "Hmm, only in an emergency."</p><p>"That seems fine. Same with my Spider-Jesse abilities," she joked a bit, and the two of them giggled again.</p><p>Jesse stepped forward into the portal with Reuben, feeling icy heat tingle over her skin, before suddenly the ground beneath her went missing. "What in the-?!"</p><p>She toppled forward, did a parkour roll, and landed on her butt, blinking. She turned to see that the portal was the one of the 'O's of a sign that read 'Boom Town', but it was one of the 'o's of the 'Boom' which was suspended in the air.</p><p>Well that certainly explained it.</p><p>Axel stepped through and fell, screaming, to the ground. He flashed white in shock, and Jesse and Reuben let out a shriek (for Reuben that was a loud squeal) and furiously backpedaled, as the explosion went off. Axel went flying through the air, did a 360, and sprawled on the ground a little ways in front of Jesse.</p><p>Jesse winced and went over to him. "Oh, jeez, you okay?"</p><p>"Yeah. I guess in a pinch my explosion can also be used as a cushion," Axel groaned, face in the dirt.</p><p>Jesse helped him up, brushing some of the dirt off his face and hoodie. "Well that was certainly an... interesting entrance," Jesse mumbled, swatting off some more dirt.</p><p>"Yep," Axel agreed, stepping forward, before they heard a click. They looked down to see that Axel had just stepped on a wire.</p><p>"... crap."</p><p>The ground below them blew up, sending them forwards with screams. Jesse clambered to her feet, another explosion going off next to her, and she and Axel got to their feet again and started running, more explosions exploding and forcing the three of them to dodge and duck. Jesse nearly ran right into one and ran left, only for a griefer holding TNT to appear around the corner with a loud cackle.</p><p>Jesse let out a yelp and used her string abilities, rappeling out of the way as the griefer charged, the TNT going off and taking the griefer with it.</p><p>Jesse winced. "This place is insane. And good for exercise," she mumbled, rubbing her head.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Amulet Chase</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse put her hands on her knees as she panted, but then she heard a snigger. She looked up to see another griefer on the roof, waving an egg. Chucking it at her, she dove out of the way and it hit the ground, cracking an revealing a tiny baby chicken.</p><p>She scrambled into a nearby alley, heaving as she tried to drag air into her lungs. Axel doubled timed in, Reuben riding on his back. "Did you see that?" he asked, grinning. She looked out at the city, one of the ruined buildings having what looked like a dancing griefer throwing TNT off a tower. "Utter chaos, man."</p><p>Jesse let out a loud gasp in return, her heart still beating like a jackhammer. She was somehow not dead. That was... pretty good. But that didn't mean she was ready to say anything in response yet.</p><p>"Well, here you have it, Jesse!" Axel said with a big grin, taking Jesse's gasp as awe or something like that, "Boom Town in all it's glory! What do you think?"</p><p>Jesse just gasped again. Still not ready to answer.</p><p>"It's like I've finally come home. These are my people."</p><p>The sheer ridiculousness of that statement snapped Jesse's vocal cords out of their silence. "Augh! Axel!" Jesse cried out, "how does anyone LIVE here?!"</p><p>As if to prove her point, a loud BOOM went off somewhere in the background, sending tremors through the floor.</p><p>"They're adventurous, Jesse!" Axel said, putting his rather burly arms up in the air, "it's awesome!"</p><p>"Axel, you'd think a poisonous potato was awesome if it had TNT strapped to it!" Jesse responded, throwing her hands up in the air.</p><p>Axel developed a thoughtful look on his face. "... well, I can't deny that."</p><p>Jesse managed to giggle at that before spotting a banner of the amulet, and she tugged it out. The green gem... bar... well, whatever it was, was glowing.</p><p>"Dude, it's freaking glowing!" Axel exclaimed, Jesse's eyes widening. "Huh... I think I know what it means!" She turned around in circles. "And look! It glows brighter when I move it in a certain direction..." she began to follow the glow.</p><p>"Maybe a little to the left?" Axel suggested. "No, the right. I mean your left. Right. I mean, you're right. About left."</p><p>"What in the world are you articulating, Axel," Jesse joked, making him crack an even larger grin than the one he already had on his face. "And... hm!" She pointed the amulet, careful not to move the cloak too much. The green gem glowed especially bright when she faced a tall black spire with the middle part mostly missing.</p><p>"And I'm willing to bet money that <em>that's</em> where we'll find Magnus," Jesse said, with a hum.</p><p>A blue-haired girl with a pink t-shirt and a black mask on jumped from a building she'd been on, making Axel, Jesse, and Reuben turn to look at her. "Hey there, new people."</p><p>Jesse blinked as she landed. "You... ah, you said you know where Magnus is? All the griefers here in Boom Town wanna find Magnus, y'know."</p><p>Jesse surreptitiously slipped the amulet back into her pocket. "Do you really?" she asked mildly.</p><p>"Yep," said the girl, popping the 'p'.</p><p>"What's going on?" Another griefer appeared. And another one.</p><p>"Nohr found some noobs with a thingy that can find Magnus," another griefer responded, all of them starting to advance on the three of them.</p><p>Jesse was tempted to throw her hands in the air, but since she was being mindful of her extra arms, she just made a face and facepalmed.</p><p>Nohr twisted to the other griefers with a glare. "Bunch of scavengers! This drop is mine!"</p><p>Jesse sighed, drawing their attention. "Since we're new to Boom Town, I bet you think we're all scared and incredibly awed by your amazing griefing skills and expertise and expect us to be cowed into doing whatever you want. Well, we're not. We're in a hurry, and I would LOVE for something to be easy, just this frickin' once. And because of that, I have just one thing to say. Bye!"</p><p>She fired her palm under the cloak and a huge strand of string shot out and hit a roof of a house. Jesse grabbed Axel, who grabbed Reuben and retracted the string. She was really bad at controlling it, and did it so fast that when she released the string, they flew into the air, before slamming down onto the roof.</p><p>"Ouch!"</p><p>"Sorry, Axel-"</p><p>"Ow, that's my hand-"</p><p>Below them, Jesse could hear the griefers shouting, and she sighed. "Wonderful."</p><p>"Since when did you so snappy?" Axel asked, straightening up and dusting himself up.</p><p>"Since we're in a hurry to save the world," Jesse responded.</p><p>"Good point."</p><p>Jesse sprinted away from them, Axel following. However, the roof was obviously not a good place for Axel, since he tripped and fell to the ground. He managed to keep Reuben aloft, at least.</p><p>Jesse winced as Axel did an impromptu explosion to keep himself from hitting the ground and becoming a pancake. The explosion blasted him sideways until he slammed onto his back, holding Reuben up in the air. "Ouch," she called down. "You okay?"</p><p>"Yeah. Split up for now, you'll move faster without me on the roof."</p><p>"Got it!" And Jesse was off again.</p><p>She was pretty near the spire when suddenly the blue-haired girl- Nohr- popped out of a doorway. "Hey, know what the best time of year is to visit Boom Town?" she asked, grinning.</p><p>Jesse sighed and glared at her. Right now, she was kinda wishing she'd gone to Redstonia instead. "Lemme guess, fall?"</p><p>"Nope. Winter. Good idea, though!" And Nohr flipped a switch.</p><p>Jesse yelped a little as she fell into a deep hole. "No way out of there, dingus!" Nohr laughed, pulling a ladder out of her pocket.</p><p>"That's where you're wrong," Jesse mumbled under her breath, and fired another strand of silk to the top of the whole. She used it to haul herself up, flipped over the edge, and landed running.</p><p>"Hey!" Nohr yelled. Jesse stuck her tongue out at her. "Who's the noob now?" she yelled, rushing full tilt towards the spire, before running into Axel. Thankfully not literally.</p><p>"Axel!" Jesse was relieved to see her burly friend.</p><p>"Jesse!" he panted, "Quick, toss me the amulet!"</p><p>Jesse gave Axel a surprised look. He made a frustrated little sound and gestured his arms. "I mean, you're surrounded by griefers, they'll tear you apart to get it!" he explained. And, true to his word, there were griefers approaching, although they were still too far away to see them properly.</p><p>Jesse nodded, fished the amulet out, and slapped it into his hand. Gently. "Don't lose it, 'kay?" she asked, giving him a lopsided grin. He returned it. "Don't worry about me. I got this. You just worry about you, and keep 'em distracted."</p><p>"Gotcha. Good luck," and she gave him a thumb's up.</p><p>Axel sprinted off, Reuben following him after giving Jesse one last worried look. She saluted playfully to her pig.</p><p>"There she is!"</p><p>Jesse turned to see the griefers running towards her, and sighed. "Well, I did need to get some exercise..." That being said, she ran full tilt at a nearby wall and grabbed ahold of it, her fingers finding cracks that she wouldn't have known to look for before, her eight limbs propelling her up the wall rapidly.</p><p>"Hey! At the top!"</p><p>Jesse hopped over the ledge and nearly tripped over a small pile of eggs.</p><p>She grinned and swiped them up. "I love a good table turning. Egg-cellent."</p><p>She made a face a moment later. "Notch, I can't believe I just said that." Two griefers poked their heads over a staircase that also led up to the roof, and Jesse pivoted and hurled the egg at the nearest griefer. It smacked him square in the chest and sent him flying backwards into the other one, and they both fell off the side of the stairs.</p><p>Jesse poked her tongue out of her mouth as she threw eggs, and soon the griefers were more at bay, and Jesse was all out of eggs. Jesse ran for another set of stairs, and found herself standing next to a block of TNT that was placed near a small fire.</p><p>A grin formed on her face. Axel would be proud. "Well, <em>hel</em>-lo, opportunity," and she scooped up the TNT and held the string close to the fire. It sparked, and she ran back towards the stairs, looking at the long line of griefers running towards her.</p><p>She did feel a little sorry for blasting them off the roof... but it was for a good cause, in the end.</p><p>She shoved it down at the griefers, one in a white mask barely having time to look up at it and widen his eyes before it blew up, sending griefers flying everywhere and demolishing the staircase. She was also blasted backwards by the blast, feeling the explosion like a rough shove and smelling the acrid smell of burning gunpowder.</p><p>Getting to her feet, she began running towards the spire, before dropping to her hands and legs and scrambling across the ground rapidly.</p><p>She reached a bridge that lead straight to the spire, with two iron doors, and was <em>immensely</em> relieved to see Axel and Reuben standing there. Reuben turned around with a cheerful oink.</p><p>"Jesse, you made it!" And Jesse found herself getting enveloped in a bone-crushing hug.</p><p>"Whoa, good to see you too, big guy!" she laughed, patting him on the back. "You have the amulet?"</p><p>"'Course. Me and the pig, we totally rocked it!" He backed away, and Jesse frowned down at the arrow in his leg. "... one second." Kneeling down, she carefully pulled the arrow-head out, making Axel hiss a little in pain, before making some more silk and wrapping a small length of it around his leg.</p><p>She couldn't see it, but Axel had a warm, happy look on his face.</p><p>"And... there ya go, you should be good," and Jesse rocked back on her heels and smiled at the makeshift bandage.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse grinned up at Axel and stood up, with a grin. "No problemo. Anyway, let's get in." Axel tried the door, but it just rattled a bit. "Huh," Axel hummed. "Maybe, it's... I dunno, locked or something. That's a thing people do to important doors, right?"</p><p>"Yes, people tend to do that when they want to keep people out," Jesse nodded, agreeably enough (internally, she was amused with her burly friend), before knocking her knuckles on the door, neatly.</p><p>She'd knocked the fourth time when the doors banged open, startling the both of them and making Reuben let out a vehement squeal. At least it was inwards and not outwards. Otherwise it would've made contact with Jesse's face.</p><p>"Fine," Axel agreed grudgingly, "knocking worked. For once."</p><p>"I guess so. Let's get inside."</p><p>Jesse stepped just inside the spire, peering into the darkness. Axel stepped into place right next to her, looking around as well.</p><p>And then the ground beneath them both gave way, and both of them screamed as they fell into the darkness, Reuben falling into her arms. She squeezed Reuben tightly as gravity disappeared, just for the moment.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. King of Boom Town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse felt a loud gasp get shoved out of her lungs as she landed on the ground, Axel landing next to her and Reuben landing on Axel, which shoved his face back into the dirt, and then rebounding onto Jesse's back, which somehow sent the amulet flying out of her pocket.</p>
<p>The amulet rolled around a pool of lava, clattering to the floor just as it neared the edge. Jesse let out a relieved sigh.</p>
<p>The room was comprised of sand and obsidian, and a small bridge connected the land where they'd... er, landed, and where the amulet had rolled to.</p>
<p>Jesse scrambled to her feet and and began to walk towards the amulet, but then a voice rang out in the room.</p>
<p>"You are completely surrounded by hidden death traps. One step closer... and KABOOM!" A lever being toggled sounded, and a sand block popped up and revealed the TNT beneath.</p>
<p>Jesse let out a yelp and stepped back hastily, backpedaling and nearly falling into the lava.</p>
<p>A man stepped out of the shadows and leaned down to pick up the amulet, the green gem glowing even brighter at his touch. A man completely in green, with a black mask.</p>
<p>"It's Magnus!" Axel said, excitedly, "we totally got caught by Magnus!" His smile fell a second later. "And... I think we're gonna die now."</p>
<p>"I think that's pretty accurate," Jesse agreed, tiredly.</p>
<p>"Did you really think you could sneak up on me?" Magnus sneered, "Ha! You're two of the worst griefers I've ever met. And a PIG? Really? Hardly stealthy."</p>
<p>Reuben snorted angrily.</p>
<p>Jesse looked at Axel, then back at Magnus. "We're here to ask you for help," she responded.</p>
<p>Magnus interrupted whatever she was about to say next. "Uh huh, uh huh. Sure. So, you're not a couple of griefers here to catch me unawares? Because, haha, let me tell you, that guy-" he pointed at Axel- "he's got griefer written all over him."</p>
<p>Axel seemed touched. "Man, you don't know how much that means to me."</p>
<p>Jesse looked at Axel, before back at Magnus. "I mean... yes, he is a griefer. But... well, c'mon, a girl in a cloak with her pig, does that seem particularly griefer... ish... to you? At all?"</p>
<p>Magnus gave her an amused smirk. "Riiiight. So, tell me something then, 'Not Griefers'. How'd you find me? You working with someone? Or maybe you bribed another griefer."</p>
<p>Jesse glanced at the TNT on the two-block-wide wide 'bridge'. "Gabriel sent us," she said, finally.</p>
<p>Magnus laughed. "Gabriel? You're seriously telling me you're buddy-buddy with Gabriel?"</p>
<p>"Not really, since I only talked to him for a total of, like, five minutes," Jesse mumbled sarcastically, so that only Axel could hear. He smirked.</p>
<p>"You know how often people try and tell me that one? This is all sounding pretty weird, dudes."</p>
<p>He flipped a lever, and the TNT blocks shot out of the way and blew up, leaving the way clear. Jesse hesitantly stepped forward, before running across the bridge towards Magnus, but she only got about five feet before Magnus pulled another lever and more TNT appeared on the path. "Who are you really? Why are you here?" He put his hand on a lever, but didn't pull it. "I want answers. Now."</p>
<p>"I'll answer the first question first," Jesse said, quietly, reaching up to the buttons on her cloak. She carefully undid them, before slowly and carefully pulling the cloak off her shoulders and setting it down carefully on the bridge in front of her.</p>
<p>Magnus's narrowed eyes widened, as Axel carefully pulled off his hoodie and cautiously approached, showing his mottled green arms.</p>
<p>Magnus stared, eyes flicking from Jesse to Axel, before he spoke again, his previously loud, boastful voice quiet and shocked. "Axel?" he directed the first one at the green-clad boy, before twisting his head to look at Jesse. "Jesse?"</p>
<p>Jesse's eyes relaxed, and she relaxed a little bit. "You recognize us," she breathed out quietly. "You recognize Axel and me, don't you?"</p>
<p>Magnus stared.</p>
<p>"There's a huge monster eating up the entire world," Jesse spoke again, "nothing can stop it. That's why Gabriel told us to reunite the Order. Please... you have to come with us. You might be the only chance we have left!"</p>
<p>Magnus stared, before he flipped the switch, and the TNT block shot out of the way and blew up again, leaving the way clear. Jesse tentatively approached him, as he said, trying to regain the previous volume, "Okay. Let me believe you, for a second then, that Gabriel DID send you- two people I haven't seen for ten years, and could possibly be new hybrids from the Bureau of Amalgamology. You expect me to take your word for it? Two strangers with wild stories, and nothing to show for it... except an amulet that's not their's."</p>
<p>"Are you that paranoid?" Jesse asked, tentatively continuing to edge towards him, "do you... really not trust anyone?"</p>
<p>"It's how I've survived this long."</p>
<p>Jesse and Axel shared a look. "It sounds lonely," Jesse responded quietly, and for a moment her voice had a remnant of the childish little girl with short hair who'd used to pet Lukas and be tested.</p>
<p>Magnus looked away, not saying anything in answer.</p>
<p>"Please trust us. And, if you don't trust me," Axel spoke up, "at least trust Jesse, because she's the most trustworthy person I know."</p>
<p>Jesse looked at him in surprise.</p>
<p>Magnus was quiet before saying, with a sigh, "Fine. Okay. You sold me. I'm in." And he walked towards them. "But... we might have a bit of a problem getting out of here."</p>
<p>"Why? You're Magnus," Axel said, puzzledly, "you can just walk out of here."</p>
<p>Magnus scoffed. "Um, I don't know if you've been around this place, but it's kinda full of griefers!"</p>
<p>"But... that's kinda awesome. Right?" Axel said, tentatively.</p>
<p>"Wrong!" Magnus huffed and crossed his arms. "You both- seriously, it's hard equating you two with those two kids from ten years ago- you both know about the whole 'challenging the king to his crown' thing, right? It's their thing.</p>
<p>"So long as I'm King, I can't leave this tower."</p>
<p>Jesse bit her lip. Why, oh <em>why</em> couldn't things be easier?!</p>
<p>"..." She pondered the situation, one hand touching her chin thoughtfully.</p>
<p>"Not as fun as you might think," Magnus huffed. "Of course, I do get to spit on their heads occasionally, so that's something."</p>
<p>Jesse smirked, before suggesting, "Just choose a new king or queen then. Then you can come with us."</p>
<p>Magnus shook his head. "Nah, I've beaten them dozens of times, they're not worthy. They'll see right through it. But you... you're the mysterious newcomer with the cloak and the amulet. By now there's sure to be all sorts of rumors of how awesome you are. If you can beat me, then I'll be able to leave!"</p>
<p>Jesse tilted her head. "I guess I could just let another griefer beat me, and that would be that," she hummed thoughtfully, before her face fell. "But how in the world would I be able to beat <em>you?</em>"</p>
<p>"I know, right? But you won't have to!" Magnus said. He started getting all excited, which kind of worried Jesse. "Ohhhh this is gonna be so good. I'm actually really excited about this! We gotta make sure it looks legit, though. The Death Bowl's never seen the carnage we're about to create.</p>
<p>"Death Bowl?" Jesse repeated, faintly.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Jesse, back in her cloak, stared around at the cheering crowds in the crudely made stadium-arena thing. Or, perhaps it had been nicely made, and just been blown up at some point in time. Actually, Jesse would've bet money that it was a mix between the two of them.</p>
<p>However, right now, she had a bit of concern about something, really, just a teensy bit.</p>
<p>"Um... what's the Death Bowl?" Jesse asked, faintly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. The Death Bowl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Wellllcome, ladies and gentlegriefers," shouted a griefer in a suit and 3D glasses, "to the DEATH BOWL! In one corner, we have Magnus, your king of Boom Town-"</p><p>Magnus waved to them with a cocky grin as the griefers cheered. "-who is prepared to defend his title and crown."</p><p>Magnus turned to Jesse, with a grinning Axel standing a few feet behind her. "So, Tiny. Welcome to the Death Bowl."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow. "Dude, <em>I'm</em> a little taller than you."</p><p>Magnus chose to ignore that. "The Grief-Off to end all Grief-Offs." He leaned in a little, speaking quietly so nobody else could hear them, "How you wanna fake this? What's your grand plan?"</p><p>Jesse had to think about that. The griefers chanting something that suspiciously sounded like 'Burn 'em' didn't really help.</p><p>"We'll... start off small. Then I'll... throw some TNT. Let it graze you, and... we'll call it a finish," Jesse finally decided, shrugging.</p><p>"Okay," Magnus nodded, "something about TNT. Awesome."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes.</p><p>As Magnus stepped back, 3D Glasses came up to Jesse. "And you? What name do you go by?"</p><p>Jesse blinked, taken aback. He dropped his voice to normal volume and said to Jesse, quietly, "I'm gonna need a name."</p><p>Jesse finally let the smallest smirk come over her face. "The Spider," she uttered.</p><p>"You heard the name, folks," 3D Glasses called to the crowd, "give a big Death Bowl welcome to the <em>Spider</em>!" Cheers practically blew out Jesse's eardrums, making her wince a bit and put a hand over her ear. "Let's begin!"</p><p>Jesse turned to face Magnus, as 3D Glasses declared dramatically, "Opponents will craft their own griefing towers, which they will then use to grief each other."</p><p>"Any rules about the tower?" Jesse asked.</p><p>3D Glasses glanced at Jesse. "I was about to get to that. The only rule is-"</p><p>A griefer interrupted, waving his arms in the air. "That there are no rules!"</p><p>"... no eye poking," 3D Glasses finished, earning some boos from the crowd. "Other than that, do whatever you want. Go crazy. Seriously."</p><p>Jesse gave Magnus a nervous smile, and Magnus gave her a wicked grin in return.</p><p>That certainly calmed her nerves.</p><p>"Spider! Pick your building material! And Magnus, you-"</p><p>"Nahh," Magnus cut him off, "I'm good. Brought my own supply."</p><p>"Let the griefing begin!" And a blast of cheers nearly deafened Jesse again.</p><p>Jesse went over to her side of the arena. "Okay. Some... wood. Stone. And... um..." Reuben jumped about, squealing excitedly, grinning at Jesse as if to say, 'This one! This one!' "... pink... wool."</p><p>Jesse frowned at her three options, before shrugging. "Well, if I fell backwards, pink wool would probably hurt less," she sighed, and went for the pink wool. Reuben let out a cheerful oink at that.</p><p>Jesse built her tower, which was mostly hollow and had a small space at the top that walled her in (so she didn't trip and fall too easily, since catching herself and crawling up the side probably looked weird). And a little makeshift TNT launcher.</p><p>Magnus was standing on top of his fort, which looked to be made out of chiseled stone and some... other pink block. And a TNT launcher that made hers look like a toy. Oh well, at least they were pretending... right?</p><p>"Okay... I have extra pink wool in here. Guess it'll have to do," Jesse sighed, putting her hands on her hips, before spotting a familiar figure jumping up and down at the bottom of Magnus's tower. "Axel, what are you doing?!"</p><p>"Thought you might bring that up," Axel shouted back sheepishly, "it's just that Reuben wanted to take your corner, and I didn't want to crowd him or anything, so I thought that I'd, um, watch from over here."</p><p>Jesse facepalmed. "Gee, thanks, Axel," she sighed, a joking undertone to her voice, before looking back to Magnus. "Take your best shot!" Magnus called, making an excited grin.</p><p>Jesse pulled out an egg, tossing it into the air and catching it. She stuck her tongue out of her mouth before tossing the egg at Magnus, who was forced to dodge sideways as it hit and spawned a cute baby chicken.</p><p>"Ha!" Magnus cackled, "you grief with me, you grief with the best!" And he turned to the crowd with a proud grin.</p><p>Jesse lobbed another egg at Magnus, and this time it hit him right in the back of the head and knocked him over, another baby chicken joining the other one. Jesse let out a little grin.</p><p>"So, Spider. You need to take my crown, huh?" Magnus let out a sarcastic laugh.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "I don't exactly discriminate in accessory taking, so I guess your crown shall be mine."</p><p>Magnus kicked both of the little chickens off the edge of the tower. "You are but a student!" Magnus declared loudly, "prepare yourself! For I am here to give you your final lesson!"</p><p>And he walked over to a huge TNT launcher.</p><p>"Oh-<em>hoh</em> boy," Jesse giggled nervously, "please don't tell me you're gonna fire that."</p><p>Magnus pulled the switch, and Jesse ducked, which turned out to be unnecessary as the TNT soared over his tower entirely and hit a random part of the stands, scattering several members of the audience. "Er, that was... just a warning," Magnus cleared his throat, awkwardly, as the crowd booed.</p><p>"What?" A griefer yelled from behind him, "a warning that you need glasses?"</p><p>"Maybe," Jesse hummed, "in that case, go for a pair of 3D ones, they look cool. Anyway, seems that the student has become the master, and the Spider will win this fight!" She completely made up the last part on the spot. Go Jesse!</p><p>"I don't know what that means," another griefer yelled, "but I love it and I want to put it on a t-shirt!"</p><p>Jesse grinned and turned back to Magnus again, before toggling her own launcher. The TNT went soaring straight towards Magnus, who turned around and stacked slime blocks in front of him, making the TNT bounce off and back towards Jesse.</p><p>Jesse dove away as the TNT blew up a small portion of her tower, giving Magnus a confused look. "What happened to getting hit by my TNT?" She said it in low enough of a voice that the crowd couldn't hear, but Magnus could, because he narrowed his eyes. "Nobody messes with the BOOM MASTER!"</p><p>Jesse dropped her face into her hands. "God-frickin'-dammit, can't things be <em>easy</em> just for once?" she groaned.</p><p>"Jesse, you okay?" Axel called, rushing over to her tower.</p><p>Jesse had no time to even answer as Magnus bellowed from his tower, "Had enough yet? All righty, I think Noob Time... is over. Luck sometimes visits the most unskilled of us, but it never lingers. Skill... mastery... these are the things that will see you defeated!"</p><p>"Magnus, craft a cannon!" shrieked a griefer.</p><p>"Yeah, finish 'em with a cannon!" a different one agreed.</p><p>"If it's a cannon you want, it's a cannon you'll get!" Magnus agreed, making the crowd cheer.</p><p>"Yup, he's completely lost it," Axel sighed, "dude's going for the kill! Jesse, you better craft.. I dunno, the greatest thing of your life. Like, right now!"</p><p>Jesse frowned at the pink wool in her chest, before she let out a defeated sigh and stacked up some blocks to make the world's worst fort, before fortifying the floor a bit. "Okay... well, it's pathetic. What do you think, Axel?" she leaned over the edge to look at her burly friend.</p><p>"Yeah... it's... yeah. It... might do. But Jesse, look."</p><p>Jesse looked, and immediately wished she hadn't. Magnus was standing on a cannon that was shaped like an open-mouthed skull with enough TNT to blow Boom Town to smithereens in the mouth and a double lava fall.</p><p>She sighed and rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "You were supposed to throw the fight..." she grumbled.</p><p>Magnus was laughing as he toggled a lever, a block of TNT shooting out of his skulls' mouth at Jesse's terrible fort. Jesse jumped back to avoid it, the TNT immediately demolishing the wall, and more TNT flew at her rapidly.</p><p>Jesse bit her tongue, before sighing and unbuttoning her cloak. "Screw it," she grumbled, balling the cloak up and tossing it down to Axel, who caught it easily. Gasps of shock rang out through the crowd, but Jesse ignored them. "Okay, if you go hard on me, I'm not going to go easy either!" she yelled back, shooting strands of string out from her palms.</p><p>She caught two blocks of TNT and launched them away, before tearing off that string and catching another one, as fast as she could. Even with her doing her best to catch and deflect the TNT, she still had to dance aside at times as TNT destroyed her tower bit by bit.</p><p>Magnus was flipping the levers so fast that it was almost faster than the speed of light.</p><p>Axel looked around frantically, still holding Jesse's cloak, before dodging off and rummaging through something- a chest, maybe? Jesse couldn't see. It was out of her peripheral vision.</p><p>Jesse's tower looked mostly like multiple random floating blocks in the air, as Magnus yelled from his skull, Jesse literally stringing some of it back together using her string, "You're going up against the King of the Griefers, and you pick pink wool? Ha!"</p><p>Suddenly, Jesse's mouth dropped open. A little behind Magnus, she spotted a little bit of pink pig- Reuben! How in the world did he get over there?</p><p>However he did, Jesse owed him ten billion carrots after this whole mess was over.</p><p>"Get off!" Magnus yelped as Reuben squealed up a storm and went around kicking his legs, "no pigs allowed!"</p><p>"I thought the only rule was 'no eye poking'," Jesse called in return.</p><p>"Stuff!" Axel yelled up to Jesse, yanking out an armful of things, "I've got cool stuff!"</p><p>He turned and chucked up an arrow that seemed to glow a bit, "I got you an arrow for your bow. It's enchanted or something!"</p><p>Jesse gave him a look. "Axel, really? A bow? In a cannon fight? There's all sorts of cliched lines about this!"</p><p>"Yeah, but the TNT, inside the cannon!" Axel pointed.</p><p>Jesse's face lit up at the suggestion. "Axel, you're a <em>genius!</em>" she declared loudly, yanking out her bow.</p><p>Axel grinned at her compliment.</p><p>"Time to see how well you fly, pig!" Magnus said, grabbing Reuben and setting him in front of the TNT launcher.</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened. "Reuben!" she cried out.</p><p>Magnus yanked the lever, sending Reuben flying into the air, squealing in fear.</p><p>Jesse aimed and fired, a large blast of string catching Reuben and sending him towards the ground at more of an acute swing, Axel moving in the direction of the little pink pig. "I gotcha, I gotcha!"</p><p>He caught Reuben and then set him down. "Man, you smell delicious right now," he commented, before kneeling down to get rid of the string.</p><p>Jesse scraped the string off her hand, and looked at Magnus with a deadly glare. "Hey, Magnus!"</p><p>"Yeah, short stuff?"</p><p>Jesse jumped up onto the highest part of her tower's remains, shaking her hair out of her eyes so she could get a clear look, red eye glinting in a deadly way "Flying pig jokes are totally played out!"</p><p>And she jumped into the air, just as a TNT block destroyed her island of pink wool, and fired.</p><p>The arrow flew straight into the mouth of the skull and embedded itself in one of the TNT blocks dead-center, the fire leaving Magnus's eyes. "Oh, crap!" Was all he had time to say, before the TNT exploded, triggering more explosions, knocking Magnus off his tower with a yell, before slamming into the floor.</p><p>Jesse winced as gravity took ahold-</p><p>She launched some string, caught ahold of a block, and swung herself in a round arc before landing perfectly on top of one pink wool block, stumbling a little bit but catching herself in time, before grinning down at the fallen Magnus.</p><p>"We have a winner!" 3D Glasses bellowed, "The Spiiiiderrrr!"</p><p>Jesse jumped down, doing a parkour roll and landing on the ground, Axel doing a sort of victory/war dance, as 3D Glasses said to Jesse, "You gonna say something, there, champ?"</p><p>Jesse hesitated. "Yeah. Sure. All you griefers who wanna be King of Boom Town? Or, Queen, or whatever you wanna call it? You can have it."</p><p>Gasps from the griefers.</p><p>Jesse took her cloak from Axel and swung it back around her shoulders. "I mean, don't get me wrong, this place is great, but... I would really like to just go back home right now."</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Then a sudden roar, and everything began to shake.</p><p>"Oh <em>crap</em>," Magnus repeated, eyes widening to the size of windmills, "that your monster?"</p><p>Jesse let out a groan as she turned to see the Witherstorm towering over Boom Town, only a little ways away.</p><p>"Yep. That monstrosity is what we call the Witherstorm," Jesse sighed, before grabbing Magnus's wrist. "Okay, now enough staring at it in horror, RUN!"</p><p>And they did exactly that, as the tractor beams roved over the town and began to lift things up. "STOP EATING MY KINGDOM!" Magnus yelled at it. "YOU'LL REGRET MESSING WITH BOOM TOWN!"</p><p>"Magnus!" Jesse yelled, making his head snap to her. "Come <em>on!</em>" A hint of desperation was beginning to rise in her voice.</p><p>Magnus bit his lip before running towards her and Axel as they ran for the portal, terrified griefers' getting sucked up into the Witherstorm's wake.</p><p>Jesse grabbed Axel, who grabbed Reuben and Magnus, before launching a string at the portal, which soared straight into the mouth of said portal. "Hang on!" Jesse screamed, before they were all jerked off their feet and thrown into the icy heat of the portal.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Green Team vs Red Team vs Ticked Hybrids</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse clambered up the side of the hill to the temple. "Okay, just a bit farther!"</p><p>Magnus scrambled up first. "Wow," and he stepped over to the edge and looked at the archway. It was comprised entirely of redstone, the archway now looking more like an honest-to-goodness tunnel, with an iron door to boot. "Someone went bonkers with the defenses, huh?"</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Well I like it."</p><p>They all hopped down (Axel nearly flattened Magnus by accident) and went towards the entrance.</p><p>A creeper came up to them, looking directly at Magnus. Axel stepped in front and glared at it, a slight hissing escaping from his mouth. To his surprise, the creeper stopped and tilted its head at Axel curiously.</p><p>Until five arrows impaled it, killing it and making it burst into a cloud of smoke. "Who goes there?" shouted a dramatic voice.</p><p>They looked up to see Lukas on a platform with a bow. His blue-green eyes widened, and he lowered the bow. "Jesse? That you?"</p><p>"Lukas!" Jesse called back, a smile forming on her face, even as Axel hissed a bit and Magnus mumbled something about "You two didn't change, huh?"</p><p>She chose to ignore it. "Hey, we're back!"</p><p>"I'm so glad you're back!" Lukas called down, his ears actually perking up slightly when he saw her.</p><p>"And we brought Magnus!" Jesse gestured at the master of explosions next to her. Lukas's grin grew even wider. "Fantastic!"</p><p>He disappeared, only for him to open the door, his eyes actually sparkling with excitement. Sparkling, I tell you. "You guys are NEVER gonna believe you showed up while you were gone."</p><p>Jesse poked her head inside the building, and her eyes widened and a grin stretched her face out. "<em>Petra!</em>"</p><p>She ran over to the redhead as Petra pushed herself off the wall, throwing her arms around her friend. Petra stumbled back a step, but she was still smiling. "Hey, guys. How's it going?"</p><p>Reuben ran over as well, and ran in little circles around her, and she grinned down at him as he started rubbing his head against her leg.</p><p>"Petra, you made it!" And the two girls gasped a little as Axel enveloped them in a bone-crushing hug.</p><p>"Axel, ribs," Jesse eked out.</p><p>"Sorry," and he let go, but he was grinning.</p><p>Petra let out a low wolf-whistle and grinned at Jesse. "Nice cloak."</p><p>"Thanks," Jesse nodded, a grin still on her face. Petra nodded and said, a bit more quietly, "Back there in Gabriel's bunker... it got pretty dicey."</p><p>Jesse nodded, her big grin fading a bit. "It's <em>such</em> a relief to see you," she agreed, "I'm so glad you're okay."</p><p>"You pulled me out of that Witherstorm's clutches, and I ran, and ran, and ran for the temple. If you hadn't saved me... well, I owe you everything, Jesse. I'm just glad I heard Gabriel telling you where to go," Petra said, nodding seriously.</p><p>Jesse's smile fell right off her face. "D-did anyone else get away?" she asked, twisting all of her hands together anxiously, enough so that it cut off her circulation.</p><p>Petra looked down at her feet. "It's all a blur, but the Witherstorm left almost nothing behind. Everything... everyone... was just... gone," she said, so quietly that Jesse almost didn't hear it.</p><p>"It even got Gabriel," Petra finished, turning around and leading them deeper into the temple.</p><p>Jesse looked back at Magnus, whose mouth was hanging open, eyes wide. He shut his mouth and looked at the floor without even saying a word, and that wasn't like the Order of the Stone member.</p><p>As they ascended the stairs, Magnus looked around. "Wow. Been a while since I've been here- <em>whoa.</em>"</p><p>His face contorted into a glare, his fists clenching a bit. Jesse stepped back a step in surprise and apprehension. "What. Is. She. Doing here?" he said, slowly, angrily.</p><p>Jesse turned to look over her shoulder, mouth falling open as her eyes widened.</p><p>Near the crumbling wall, a chatting Olivia and Ellegaard stood there. From the distance Jesse was at, Ellegaard had a pretty warm expression on her face. She couldn't see Olivia, whose back was to her, but from the way Olivia was using her hands animatedly, she was in a pretty good mood.</p><p>"Call this a hunch," Petra said tentatively, "but... uh... do you two not like each other?"</p><p>"Right, I, forgot to mention... Olivia went on a little expedition of her own, while you were gone," Lukas added sheepishly.</p><p>Magnus frowned at them. "And this, 'Olivia' person, came back with <em>her?</em>"</p><p>He turned to Jesse, eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Did you know about this? Did Ellie-" He stopped, closing his eyes in frustration for a moment, before eking out, "<em>Ellegaard.</em> Did <em>Ellegaard</em> put you up to this?"</p><p>Jesse shook her head, frowning. "And this... is a problem?"</p><p>"You bet your butt it's a problem," Magnus snapped, "no way am I working with her. Not after... ugh."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow, but right then Olivia spotted them. "Jesse!" she called out, her face practically lit up like a sunbeam, even as Jesse noticed the skin around her right eye had finally darkened to jet-black, and her eye was a glowing shade of violet. "Jesse! Look- I found Ellegaard!"</p><p>"One moment," Jesse said to Magnus, "I'll- I'll go and figure out what's happening."</p><p>"Good," Magnus snapped, "you do that."</p><p>"Easy now, Olivia," Ellegaard was saying to the slightly taller female- actually, Olivia was getting <em>tall</em>, Jesse had only just noticed- "Let's try and play it cool, hm?" She turned to Jesse, expression hardening. "So, who are you now? And why did you bring <em>him</em> with you?"</p><p>Jesse sighed and pulled aside the cloak. Ellegaard's eyes widened. "Oh. <em>Oh!</em> I see. Olivia just called you Jesse, but I didn't realize... yes, okay, I see now. Hello, Jesse. But, ah, doesn't explain my second question."</p><p>Jesse rubbed her forehead a bit with her topmost set of hands. "Yeah. We're- well, we're trying to reunite the Order of the Stone."</p><p>Olivia was practically glowing. "It was kinda crazy, actually. I went to Redstonia, and there were all these <em>amazing</em> engineers and inventors... it was a bit intimidating, actually. But Ellegaard's made me her protege!"</p><p>"Way to go, Liv!" Jesse cheered for her friend, "I was Queen of Boom Town. For, like, twenty seconds."</p><p>Olivia's grin looked as though it were about to split her face. "That's awesome! Great job!"</p><p>Before Jesse could say anything else, Magnus came over, his face darker than a thundercloud. "Oh, hooo-ray. It's Ellie. And here I was just starting to enjoy myself."</p><p>"Hello Magnus," Ellegaard responded primly, returning the glare, "your voice is exactly as pleasant as I remember. Which is to say, not at all."</p><p>"Ow, my feelings. That the same wit you're gonna use to save the world?"</p><p>"Why? You here to tell me how to do it better?"</p><p>"Oh, I would never dream of doing that. Unlike you," and now the two of them were practically inches from each other, so close that if Jesse had shoved Magnus they would've kissed, "I actually DO things instead of just talking about them."</p><p>"Hey!" Olivia interrupted, "that's Ellegaard you're talking to! Show her some respect!"</p><p>"Wow, you've finally found yourself a live one," Magnus sneered at Ellegaard.</p><p>"Hey!" Olivia repeated, sounding more offended his time. Magnus continued. "Your devotees are usually more on the bookish side."</p><p>Lukas blinked. "What's wrong with books? I like books. And Jesse does, too. I mean, when we were back in the lab Jesse would pet me while reading a book."</p><p>All five of the hybrids, all in earshot, suddenly shuddered, chills racing down their spine.</p><p>Lukas blinked again. "Holy crap, where did... where did that come from? I never... I don't think I remembered that before."</p><p>"Well, would you two cut it out, please? Let's focus on the bigger picture, here. We have a very hungry Witherstorm who is in the process of turning our world into its dinner," Jesse subtly tried to steer the conversation away from arguing.</p><p>"Yeah, I'll admit, that thing looked real nasty. I've seen some nasty stuff in my time," Magnus agreed.</p><p>"Too much for you, was it? Your usual brutish approach didn't cut it?"</p><p>"Hey!" And Magnus whirled back on Ellegaard, "you weren't there, alright? You didn't see how this thing tore everything up-"</p><p>"<em>ENOUGH!</em>"</p><p>Both of them jumped at the three simultaneous voices that interrupted the bickering, turning.</p><p>Petra's eyes were literally smoldering (although, it might've been Jesse's imagination, but it seemed less fiery than before) and she was actually starting to glow with heat, Lukas's hair was standing on end with his tail bristling and his cat-eyes in full procession, and Jesse's red eye was glowing as she hissed angrily.</p><p>"The <em>entire world</em> is being eaten," Petra said, her voice calm but still quivering with fury. Lukas picked up where she left off, his claws showing as his hands contorted, "and you're both here acting like little <em>children!</em>"</p><p>"Would you two please put aside your differences," Jesse agreed with her two friends, voice deceptively calm, "because we don't have the <em>time</em> for petty <em>arguments!"</em> The last word was the loudest, because all three of them yelled at the same time.</p><p>Magnus stepped back, looking slightly nervous. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, obviously taken aback.</p><p>"Yikes," Ellegaard agreed.</p><p>"They're right," Olivia agreed, timidly, "we don't have time to argue. We have to find some way to stop that thing."</p><p>The three friends huffed, Petra's eyes no longer flaming, Lukas's hair relaxing, and Jesse brushing her hair back in front of her left eye as they all attempted to calm down, although judging from how tense they were, it wasn't really working.</p><p>"Yes... but this place isn't <em>nearly</em> the stronghold it used to be," Ellegaard hummed thoughtfully, "most of our supplies are gone."</p><p>"It would take a mountain of TNT to kill that thing!" Magnus pointed out.</p><p>Ellegaard sighed a bit. "Yes, I hate to say it, but judging from the stories Olivia's told me, you have a point."</p><p>"At least they're agreeing now," Lukas sighed, relaxing. Axel patted him on the shoulder with a nod. "I know, right?"</p><p>"Are they getting along?" Olivia wondered.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Depends- you talking about Ellegaard and Magnus, or Lukas and Axel?"</p><p>"If only Soren were here," Ellegaard kept musing, "he might have something we could use."</p><p>"Ellie, not this again," Magnus moaned, "you know I hate it when you brag about you and Soren's little brainy club."</p><p>"I'm not bragging!" Ellegaard huffed, "I think I've got a legitimate idea here!"</p><p>Jesse looked over at Ellegaard. "What are you talking about?" she asked, curiously.</p><p>"Soren had a kind of... 'super TNT'," Ellegaard responded, "Stronger and more explosive than anything else in the world. The Formidi-Bomb."</p><p>"Yeah yeah yeah," Magnus dismissed, "I've heard all about the 'F-Bomb' before."</p><p>Jesse snorted at that.</p><p>"Yeah, Soren claimed that dropping the 'F-Bomb' could destroy anything."</p><p>Now she was giggling and trying not to. Her friends were trying to keep a straight face, but Jesse's giggles were contagious.</p><p>"A-anyway, the F-Formidi-Bomb sounds perfect!" she said quickly, trying to keep herself from dissolving into a full-blown giggling fit, "we should go get it. Like.. right now."</p><p>"Erm, there's a little problem here... we don't know where Soren is."</p><p>"That sounds like a pretty big problem to me."</p><p>"But you found us," Ellegaard said, ignoring Petra's sarcastic comment. "Do you know where he is?"</p><p>Jesse looked up at the map, and everyone followed her gaze. Ellegaard nodded. "Our map could locate him. Unless he's in the Nether. Or the End. But, it's worth a shot."</p><p>Jesse placed the amulet back in it's place, before going back over to the table and flipping a switch or two, which lit up the block, and the red and green lights appeared from the amulet right next to one another at the temple.</p><p>"Okay, there's your light... my light..."</p><p>Magnus was cut off by a white light flashing to life at the top of the map.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Journey to Mount Doom (AKA the Fortress)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Soren!" Ellegaard exclaimed. "There he is. Soren's fortress was pretty deep inside the mountains. After the Order... broke up-"</p><p>Jesse felt like Magnus carefully avoided Ellegaard's gaze on the words 'broke up'.</p><p>"That's where he went to keep doing his experiments."</p><p>"Look," Magnus spoke up, "he invited me a couple times but it always seemed a bit..."</p><p>"Weird, right?" Ellegaard finished, "it always seemed a bit weird."</p><p>Magnus nodded. "Glad we can agree on that at any rate," he mumbled.</p><p>"Then, let's stop hanging around here and go get that super TNT!" Jesse exclaimed, interrupting their conversation.</p><p>Abruptly, another light flickered on, this one dark blue, the same shade as the gem in the center of the amulet.</p><p>Their eyes widened.</p><p>"Whoa..." Ellegaard said, a bit taken aback. The blue light was moving towards the white light.</p><p>"It didn't do that before," Olivia said, frowning.</p><p>"Is it working?"</p><p>Jesse squinted at it, before her eyes widened. "Oh <em>crap</em>," she cried, "that's Ivor!"</p><p>Everyone's head snapped to look at the map, "the part on the amulet that lights up is the same as the thing on Ivor's belt!"</p><p>"Holy crap, you're right!" Petra agreed.</p><p>"Ivor's going to Soren's!" Ellegaard stared at the map, "we need to move."</p><p>Jesse touched her lip, squinting a little bit. "Hmm... I don't think we're too far. We could probably make it on foot."</p><p>"Perfect," and Ellegaard put her hands on her hips, "we can wait until morning and travel with a full day's sunlight-"</p><p>"<em>No.</em>" Petra cut her off, making everyone glance at her. She had a freaked out look on her face, fists clenching and eyes widening. "No. We are NOT letting that Witherstorm catching up with us."</p><p>"Yeah, I think I've had enough for one day," Magnus agreed.</p><p>Ellegaard pinched her lips together. "Right, because getting caught in the dark is so much better."</p><p>"Why are we worried about monsters? We ARE monsters, most of us anyway. We would probably be fine," Jesse pointed out.</p><p>Everyone glanced at each other tentatively. "Never thought of that," Lukas hummed thoughtfully.</p><p>"Yeah, let's- let's go now. I don't want that thing catching up to us," Jesse shuddered.</p><p>"Jesse here's talkin' a lot of sense. Let's just go with that plan."</p><p>Ellegaard rolled her eyes at the man next to her. "You're just saying that because it's <em>your</em> plan, but fine."</p><hr/><p>They'd started walking through the woods, and so far everything was quiet. Jesse didn't dare say so out loud, though- she always jinxed herself when she did.</p><p>"Jesse, right?"</p><p>Jesse started a bit as Ellegaard came up next to her. "Oh, hi."</p><p>"We haven't had the chance to acquaint ourselves properly," Ellegaard responded, "well, seeing as... you don't remember anything from the lab, right?"</p><p>Jesse had to think about that. "Bits and flashes, but nothing concrete yet. Yeah, I don't."</p><p>"Ah. I heard you saved Petra from the Witherstorm. Sounds like you're pretty impressive."</p><p>"Thanks, but I just..." Jesse looked back at everyone. Lukas was standing next to Olivia, and Axel on the other side, Axel having just made a really bad joke that Olivia was rolling her eyes at and Lukas was smirking a bit. Magnus was nodding too. "... I just want everyone to be safe."</p><p>"I can always appreciate humility. I like you," Ellegaard stated, making Jesse blink, "In any case, I sort of wish you'd taken my side earlier, but... water under the bridge and all that."</p><p>Reuben gravitated to the front, everyone chatting a little ways behind them.</p><p>"Yeah... anyway," Jesse said, quashing down her curiousity- no need to tick off a very powerful Order of the Stone member- "you and Olivia seem to get along pretty well."</p><p>"Yes, she's very nice," and Ellegaard shot a warm smile back at Olivia, who grinned back. "She really hasn't changed much since your days at the lab."</p><p>Jesse had to think about that for a minute. "... she used to be more of a prankster," she thought, "I think I remember that much about her back then. But, I might be wrong, so, you can take that with a grain of salt."</p><p>"Mm, I see. Incidentally, why didn't you listen to her plan to come and recruit me? Not to make it awkward or anything. Or to demand why did you want to recruit me?" Ellegaard gave a laugh that seemed rather awkward.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Nothing against you- it's just Olivia's pretty good at building, so I thought it'd be better for her to fortify the walls and stuff. Besides, you see how Axel and Lukas get along- if I'd left those two together there's a fair chance the temple would've been demolished by the time we got back, especially with Axel's being half-creeper and tending towards the griefer side of things."</p><p>Ellegaard snorted a little bit, covering her mouth when Jesse looked back at her. "Yes, he does seem rather like Magnus. And Magnus DOES know how to blow things up with reckless abandon, that's for sure. I'll do my best not to let it hurt my feelings." She chuckled, "joke. That was a joke."</p><p>Suddenly a sound. Everyone turned to see monsters approaching them. <em>Thousands</em> of them.</p><p>Although most of them seemed more curious than angry. Jesse casually stepped in front of Ellegaard, and the five hybrids surrounded the two Order of the Stone members protectively.</p><p>"See, this is why I said we should go in the morning," Ellegaard hissed.</p><p>"I'd rather deal with these small fries than the big one," Magnus whispered back.</p><p>A creeper wandered dangerously close to the group as they walked slowly through the monsters. "Don't look don't look don't look," Olivia chanted, looking as though she were holding her breath.</p><p>The creeper went up to Axel, who gulped but otherwise didn't do anything, staring into the creeper's empty eyes. The creeper then wandered away when Lukas started passing it.</p><p>More spiders began to drop from the trees, but just tilted their heads curiously.</p><p>So, walking silently while holding their breaths, they all managed to make it to Soren's fortress without getting their heads taken off. That was... pretty good.</p><p>Although, it had been <em>ever</em> so close.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Entrance to the Fortress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse whistled at the architecture. Soren either had a lot of time on his hands, or he was <em>really</em> good at building. Probably a mix of the two.</p>
<p>"Soren really lived here?" Lukas wondered, looking around, "so far from... anyone."</p>
<p>"Enchanting, isn't it," Ellegaard mumbled, although whether she was being sarcastic or not was hard to tell.</p>
<p>Suddenly, coughing. Jesse turned to see Petra covering her mouth with her sleeve.</p>
<p>Petra's skin seemed a bit... paler than usual. Not to mention that she seemed to be a little quieter than she usually was, and she was already pretty damn quiet.</p>
<p>"You okay?"</p>
<p>Petra straightened up and nodded silently, before continuing on. Jesse's gaze followed the redhead with concern, but she finally walked after her friend.</p>
<p>Up a staircase, there was what looked like a large cavern. On the other side were two, illuminated gold doors. However, the floor that made up the cavern had huge parts of it missing, leaving a large drop into what Jesse felt like was a bottomless abyss.</p>
<p>"Wow," Jesse said, gaping at the thing."I- how- <em>why?</em>"</p>
<p>"Yeah, I'm not really feeling those columns," Lukas mumbled, looking at the columns.</p>
<p>Magnus sighed and did a huge jump over one of the parts that were missing, landing on a column. "See? It's fine?"</p>
<p>Axel got a running start and landed on his feet. The column didn't even shift.</p>
<p>"Fair enough," and Jesse did a huge jump and landed on the column, Reuben following. Olivia just bleeped into sight on the other side of the column. "I'll just... wait here," she called back to them, sounding faintly amused.</p>
<p>Axel made a face at her and got another running leap. "Hey, no fair!"</p>
<p>Lukas and Petra made it with no problem, since Petra was hovering part of the way, although it seemed like it was harder for her to actually hover.</p>
<p>Jesse made it a few more columns in, when she heard a squeal, and she whipped around. Reuben was teetering on the edge, about to fall in-</p>
<p>"Reuben!" Jesse ran back over, but her foot caught on the corner of the cloak- she tipped forward-</p>
<p>She wrapped her arms around Reuben as she did a flip over him and she toppled into the darkness, Reuben squealing in fear- only for Jesse's back to slam painfully into a stone floor not <em>too</em> far behind her, and for all the air in her body to be forced out like she'd been hit with a sledgehammer. She literally lay on her back and gasped for a few minutes, before she managed to sit back up, forcing air back into her lungs.</p>
<p>There was a bit of light around her, from a sea lamp on the floor. Jesse got to her feet, only to avert her gaze quickly.</p>
<p>Standing not too far from her, was a tall Enderman holding a block. It wasn't facing her, thank god, but she still looked at it out of her peripheral vision.</p>
<p>Jesse stepped to hide behind a stone column, looking at the Enderman, but the step revealed even MORE of the creatures, practically swarming the floor.</p>
<p>Jesse sucked in a breath. "Oh boy... we've got Endermen."</p>
<p>A yelp, and she turned to see Lukas landing on all fours on the sea-lamp, before overbalancing and falling. She winced a bit. "Lukas?" she asked in a whisper, approaching the ocelot hybrid, "You okay there?"</p>
<p>"Yeah," Lukas nodded, "I heard you, so I thought I'd come down to help."</p>
<p>Jesse looked back where he'd fallen from, but she couldn't see anything except darkness. "Well, thanks, Lukas," she said, feeling a bit bewildered.</p>
<p>Lukas glanced over Jesse's shoulder, his hair starting to rise on end. "Endermen," he breathed nervously.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Jesse nodded, "there's... a ton of them. I never knew they came in groups that big." She looked back at Lukas. "Thanks for coming back for me, Lukas- you didn't have to."</p>
<p>"You didn't have to come after me with that iron golem, or give me that cookie," Lukas pointed out to her with a warm smile. "I did say I owed you."</p>
<p>Jesse smiled back at Lukas, a small smile twitching onto her lips, but before she could say anything else she heard Reuben squealing.</p>
<p>"I think Reuben's trying to get my attention," and she turned- and came face to face with an Enderman that had been leaning down to look at her. "<em>Gah!</em>"</p>
<p>The Enderman screeched as Jesse jumped back, landing on Lukas and knocking him over. Lukas's hair was on end, and he was hissing in fear. Jesse was hissing as well, scrambling backwards as fast as possible.</p>
<p>"Run run run!" And Jesse lunged to her feet, scooped up Reuben, grabbed Lukas's wrist, and started running blindly, dodging out of the way of Endermen that teleported into her path-</p>
<p>Her foot stepped into thin air and the two of them screamed as they fell forward into thin air-</p>
<p>They splashed into something icy cold, making Jesse gasp as water flooded around them.</p>
<p>The Endermen thankfully didn't follow, and Jesse clung to Lukas's wrist and to Reuben tightly as the stream carried them along, away from the purple-eyed creatures. Lukas was kicking furiously to keep his head above water, as evidenced when he accidentally kicked Jesse in the shin. Jesse winced but said nothing in return.</p>
<p>After a minute or two, the water gave way, and they fell with shrieks into a larger body of water.</p>
<p>Jesse used all eight of her limbs to keep her head above the water, before they started swimming towards a statue of the amulet and two doors- one green, one red. They could hear arguing ringing out in the room. Magnus and Ellegaard, for sure.</p>
<p>"That's it! I'm going," Ellegaard snapped, before whipping around and storming through the red doorway, as Jesse managed to get herself out of the water and wrung out her now-soaking-wet cloak and some of her clothing.</p>
<p>"Oh, no no no!" Magnus snipped back, "You don't get to be the one who walks away. See! I'm going. 'Super TNT', here I come!" and he disappeared through the green one.</p>
<p>Olivia gave Jesse a long-suffering look. "It's hard to see this as 'glass half full' when they keep kicking the glass over."</p>
<p>"Well, I guess we should get going, then," Jesse sighed, raking a hand through her tangled, wet hair. Lukas was doing similarly, shaking out his Ocelot jacket and even doing a shake like a dog (and getting water all over Axel) to get some of the water out.</p>
<p>Jesse looked between the two doorways, and decided on the red one, walking towards it, when Petra came up to her, eyes fixed on the floor, and tapped her on the shoulder.</p>
<p>"Petra? Are you okay?" Jesse asked immediately, turning back to the redhead.</p>
<p>Petra gave a little shrug, shoulders rising and falling quickly, before she said, quietly, "I'm sorry, I don't... I don't mean to worry you. I have something I need to discuss with you in private."</p>
<p>The others were coming up to Jesse, who gave them a look, and said, apologetically, "Let's split up- we don't know which way's quicker."</p>
<p>They nodded, before sending Petra a worried look and turning back around to go through the green doorway.</p>
<p>Reuben looked up at Jesse, nudging her hand, before the two girls and the small pink pig went through the red doorway, into the darkness.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Withered Blazes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse watched Petra patiently. Petra finally slowed to a stop, looking at her shoes again, like when she'd confessed her worries about being half a Blaze.</p><p>"I feel bad about ditching everyone else, but I just wanted to talk to you about this alone. It's a little tough to talk about," Petra spoke finally.</p><p>"Hey, whatever it is, you can tell me," Jesse responded, giving her friend a warm smiling.</p><p>"Thanks for being so understanding," Petra answered, and the two of them smiled at each other a bit, Jesse finally reaching out and giving her friend's right hand a squeeze.</p><p>She released it a second later, chills rushing up her spine. "Petra, you're <em>freezing...</em>" she gasped, rubbing her hand. And Jesse was not joking. It was literally smoking with frost.</p><p>Petra rubbed the back of her head. "You got me away from the Witherstorm... but I'm worried I didn't get away soon enough."</p><p>"Petra?"</p><p>Petra pulled up her sleeve in response, showing that her left arm- the one that had been a shade of gold- was stone-gray, with a strange purple mark on it. It looked like a bruise, but not really- if you looked closely the veins in her arm that weren't turning faintly silver were a horrible shade of purple.</p><p>"Oh my god! Holy crap, what are we doing down here?!" Jesse gasped immediately, "we need to get you help!"</p><p>"I don't know if there's anything we can do, Jesse," Petra responded quietly. "... do you know what Wither is?"</p><p>Jesse blinked, taken aback. "Th-the Wither? Of course, we've been-"</p><p>"No, Jess," Petra said softly, "just Wither. Or... Wither Sickness, I guess. And I feel like it's just going to keep getting worse."</p><p>"But- but you're half Blaze!" Jesse spluttered, waving her arms in the air like pinwheels, "how in the name of Notch did you get Wither Sickness?!"</p><p>Petra frowned down at her arm. "I don't know..."</p><p>"Well, we should go back and tell the others!" Jesse exclaimed, "w-we can get help-"</p><p>"You can't tell anyone about this!" Petra looked alarmed, but before either of them could say anything more a creeper lumbered into the hallway, hissing loudly as it flashed, preparing to explode.</p><p>"Creeper!" Petra yelled, rushing away before it could explode right in her face. Jesse was not so lucky.</p><p>The explosion blasted a hole in the floor, Jesse falling through it and her hand smacking into the stone ledge painfully and her clinging on for her life.</p><p>"Grab my hand!" Petra cried out, running back over, "I'll pull you up."</p><p>Reuben squealed in alarm as Jesse reached up and grabbed Petra's hand with her topmost set. The others began to work their way onto the ledge, too.</p><p>Immediately her hand started smoking with frost, and Jesse shivered as she clung onto Petra, who started to pull her up. Petra's arms were shaking, her forehead was beaded with sweat, and even though they'd just started Petra looked as though she was about to die.</p><p>Jesse's fingers were going numb, her chest was starting to hurt, and the frost had crept all the way up past her elbow, when Jesse's numb fingers slipped from Petra's exhausted ones, she unbalanced, and toppled backwards into the hole, landing harshly on the stone ground.</p><p>The amulet bounced out of Jesse's pocket, and Jesse lay there on her back for a moment, watching the amulet bounce away hazily, starting to emit dark blue light, and landing several feet away from Jesse, lighting its way in the darkness.</p><p>Jesse lay there for a minute, before she became aware of someone shaking her. "Jesse!"</p><p>Petra was shouting, and Jesse slowly came back into focus. Petra must've flown down here, because Jesse could see Petra's Blaze rods fading away, although they looked more silver and purple, like her arm. And they seemed to be falling apart. Petra's breathing was also pained as she leaned over Jesse, Reuben shivering next to her. "Jesse, I just couldn't... I'm so sorry!" And Jesse felt a jolt of alarm at the sight of tears in the tough redhead's eyes. "Jesse, are you okay?"</p><p>Reuben let out a worried whine.</p><p>Jesse winced a bit as she sat back up. "Haha, yeah, sorry- I just went kinda out of it for a moment. You're the one that's sick, anyways. Take care of yourself first, I'll be perfectly fine." She forced a smile through the aching pain that was starting to spread through her body.</p><p>"Okay..." Petra relaxed a little as Jesse struggled to her feet. She tensed again when Jesse unbuttoned the cloak and put it around Petra's shoulders. "Wh-what-?"</p><p>"You're freezing," Jesse responded, adjusting the cloak, "you probably need this more than I do."</p><p>Petra gave Jesse a bewildered look, before her eyes relaxed again- they were turning dull gray, too- and she also got to her feet. "Thanks, Jesse."</p><p>The two of them- three of them, can't forget Reuben- kept going, Jesse retrieving the amulet, and they continued onwards, the glow fading a bit as they came into a brightly lit room.</p><p>Jesse squinted a bit, and Petra winced as their eyes adjusted to the light. When they did, they both gasped. The room was HUGE, even bigger than the area with the doorways and the amulet where they'd gone their separate ways, glowstone on almost every surface. It looked like a beautifully large library. And on the floor, in the center of the room, was an amulet themed decoration. Reuben let out a wondering oink.</p><p>"This is a <em>ton </em>of books," Petra gaped around them, "who needs this many books?"</p><p>"Soren, apparently," Jesse hummed.</p><p>They came into another room, opening the door, spotting a figure with their back to them. Petra's eyes widened, and her fists clenched. Jesse glanced at Petra, before back at the figure, who was muttering, "He must have something useful in here! He has to! Why would he have so many books, was he just... collecting them? He can't possibly have read all of these..."</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened. "Ivor?" Her voice had dropped to a whisper.</p><p>Ivor turned, his eyes narrowing. "Trying to interfere with my plans again, I see," he sneered, "your tenacity is commendable, but misguided. You found your way here, so now you may find it back out again. Immediately."</p><p>Jesse sighed. "You're cheerful as ever... I can't see why I wanted to see you so much as a kid-"</p><p>She let out a sharp gasp as more chills raced up her back, grabbing her head in pain.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Jesse bounced up off the floor and dropped her knitting and her book the moment saw the Order come in. "Is Ivor here today?" she asked, eagerly. Last time they'd started reviewing how to make Potions of Strength... no, draught of strength... no...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Gabriel made a little face that made Jesse's hopes sink, and her arms drooped a little bit as her smile faded. "Sorry, Jesse- he said he was too busy making potions of healing."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"That's probably our fault," and Magnus made a hand motion at his cheek, which had a sort of scar on it, "I got that from racing Gabriel on my sheep."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I still say I won."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No you didn't!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I say you both are idiots," Ellegaard rolled her eyes. The warrior and the rogue looked at her, offended. "Hey!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Soren was snickering in the background as Ellegaard relented and gave the rogue a little kiss on the cheek. "But you're less of an idiot."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Thank you so much, Ellegaard," Gabriel remarked, sarcastically</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse drooped fully this time around, and Lukas padded up to her, making the little girl look at the ocelot hybrid. "Hey, don't worry," and he smiled cheerfully, "you can spend some time with me and Soren! He's teaching me how to craft stuff."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No, no," Axel burst in, waving his arms and nearly smacking Magnus in the face by accident, "you should stick with me and Magnus! He's gonna teach me how to use fireworks!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Olivia shook her bouncy curls, attracting Jesse's attention, "We're learning how to use redstone torches today!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Gabriel and I were going to practice. I think I'm getting closer to beating him!" Petra said, bouncing up and down excitedly, actually floating a little into the air each time with each bounce due to her Blaze Rods.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse shook her head a bit. "I think I'll stick with Olivia today, but thanks, guys," making the other three pout a bit in disappointment.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So the three of them spent the day working on the usage of redstone torches. It wasn't too bad, but honestly, Jesse would've liked for Ivor to teach her how to make a potion of Strength... no, no, draught of...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And also for him to remind her of the name of the potion.</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse shuddered again, shaking herself out of the memory. She glanced up at Ivor, who had a frozen look on his face for a split second, but then it faded, his face hardened and he stepped forward. "Out of my way."</p><p>"Wait-" Ivor shoved past her, but found himself being blocked by a stone sword. "Oh, you're not going anywhere," Petra snarled.</p><p>Ivor's face blanched a bit. "Petra?"</p><p>She grinned, but she'd just backed him up to a sword stand, and Ivor grabbed a gold sword before she could do anything, slashing at her. Petra blocked. "Foolish girl, I-"</p><p>She cut him off, shivering so barely that you'd have to really look at her to notice. "Shut up. I don't care what you have to say." And blocked another swing from Ivor, whose eyes had hardened and seemed to be shining a little, for some reason.</p><p>"I'm just going to take you down."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. No Time Like the Past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Petra, just let him go," Jesse said, a bit worriedly, "he's not worth it."</p><p>"Sorry, Jesse," Petra apologized, "but I didn't escape one monster just to let another one get away."</p><p>Ivor's eyes flickered again. Jesse squinted. Yes, they were definitely a bit shiny.</p><p>Jesse sighed, drew her own sword, and flicked it, knocking Ivor to the ground. She really was getting better.</p><p>Ivor arched his eyebrow. "You really have improved since I last saw you," he murmured, clambering to his feet, "but still- I'm the only one who can stop the Witherstorm. Not you, not the Order!"</p><p>He raised the sword, golden blade flashing in the low lighting, "Don't make yourselves the villains in my story."</p><p>He charged at Jesse, who flicked her sword into the air, blocking the swing Ivor had utilized, the two blades locked together for a moment, before Ivor shoved Jesse back to the floor. Jesse was up on her feet in less than a second.</p><p>Ivor raised his sword above his head, and Jesse slammed the flat of her blade into his ribs, making Ivor stumble back, and then she lashed out with her foot, knocking Ivor to the floor.</p><p>"You're not going anywhere," and Petra came up behind him.</p><p>Ivor got to his feet, turning to face the two of them. "This could have all been avoided," he snarled, "if you want to stop me, you're gonna have to catch me first." And he yanked out a potion, swallowing the whole thing in one go.</p><p>"Look out!" Petra brought her sword down on Ivor, but he was gone, as if he'd never even been there. They looked around, Petra quickly running to block the bookshelves. "You're not getting out of here that easy, Ivor."</p><p>Ivor began to blur around the room, so fast that you could only see the after-effects.</p><p>Jesse let out a cry as she winced, another headache striking her head.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"This is a Potion of Speed," Ivor held the bottle up.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse practically crawled into his lap, staring at the sparkling bottle. "It's pretty!" she cooed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Do you want to see what it does?" And he smiled slightly at her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse sat back on her heels, clapping her hands excitedly. "That'd be fun!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor uncorked the bottle and drank some of it, before getting up and then blurring around the room, running around so fast that everyone couldn't get a good look at him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse clapped as he finally slowed to a stop, right back in front of her again. "That's so cool!" she beamed like a sunbeam.</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Jesse!"</p><p>Jesse shook herself out of it, seeing Ivor running right at her, sword held out to his side.</p><p>Jesse threw herself backwards, her hands catching her in a sort of 'crab' position, the sword literally brushing against her nose, before Ivor ran right for Petra and knocked her to the floor.</p><p>"Petra!"</p><p>Petra climbed to her feet, blocking each hit that Ivor tried to attack her with. Her forehead was covered in a layer of sweat, and her skin was a pale shade of gray, and her eyes were turning even grayer than before. Her motions were getting more sluggish with each block, but she refused to get out of the way.</p><p>Jesse slammed her shoulder right into Ivor's side, making him cry out in shock and pain as he collided to the floor.</p><p>Another headache stabbed into her temples, making Jesse gasp in pain.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"I hit him!" Jesse crowed and danced around in a little circle victoriously, before beaming at her friends. "I got him!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor grinned, wincing where Jesse's stick had collided with his side in a moment of distraction and sent him to the floor. She was actually getting pretty good at it. Not that he'd... ever admit it, of course.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Nice job, Jesse," he praised, before poking her in the ribs with his stick. "Got you," he smirked at the little six-year-old girl.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse turned to look at him, eyes wide and mouth open in a little 'o', her own short black hair tousled from moving around so much. "Aw, no fair!" she whined, before running back over to him and poking him again with the stick.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Five minutes later the sticks had abandoned and the practice fight had deteriorated into a poking session.</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Don't tempt your fate," Ivor was hissing, and then running straight at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse brought her sword up, down, flicking it using mostly just her wrist, finally succeeding and knocking Ivor back onto the floor again. He really hadn't gotten any better since the last time they'd fought...</p><p>"It didn't have to go this way, Jesse. You could've just let me go," Ivor said, his eyes softening slightly.</p><p>Jesse frowned, puzzled.</p><p>And then he smashed a bottle at his feet. "Now you see me, now you-" He was gone.</p><p>Crap.</p><p>Jesse looked around for her invisible enemy, but he was nowhere in sight. Laughter that wasn't hers or the redhead's filled the air. "Stay on guard!" Jesse told the redhead, who nodded and lifted up her sword again.</p><p>Jesse searched the area, finally spotting a potion bottle floating in midair. She reached out with one of her lower arms and caught the potion, looking at it in surprise before she was forced to chuck it aside and dive out of the way of another one.</p><p>"End of the road, Ivor!" Petra growled, "we're not letting you get away with this!"</p><p>Silence.</p><p>"This one's on you, you puffed up fool!" And the potion went straight at Petra.</p><p>"<em>No!</em>" Jesse reacted instinctively, jumping in front of her friends, lower arms spreading out to protect her friend. Her upper ones shot string, which tagged the bottle and sent it spinning right back at Ivor just as the potion wore off.</p><p>He gave a startled cry and fell onto his back, groaning as he managed to get to his feet. "There's no time... no time... this could've been avoided."</p><p>"Jesse! Petra!" Lukas raced into the room, Axel hot on his heels and Olivia bleeping into sight. Ivor snarled.</p><p>"Even more of you?"</p><p>"We found Ivor," Jesse said, which was kind of stating the obvious. "We stopped him."</p><p>Petra gave Jesse a grateful look. "Jesse did, anyway."</p><p>"False," making all six of them look at him, "you've stopped <em>nothing.</em>" He walked towards them, casually. "A query... ever seen the effects of a Splash Potion of Slowness?"</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened. "Ivor-"</p><p>He smashed another potion at the group's feet, and Jesse's voice slowed. "- dooooonnnn'tttt."</p><p>He walked away, everyone's eyes narrowing in rage as they realized what he'd done, Jesse turning far too slowly to do anything as yet another memory flashed into her head as she ran towards him.</p><hr/><p>"<em>Ivor!"</em></p><p>
  <em>The black-haired male looked at the little girl as she ran up to him, grinning widely. "I thought you said you wouldn't have enough time to visit after defeating the dragon! Where's everyone else?" she asked, brightly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor's dark blue eyes seemed to fill with pain, and he glanced away. "Oh... e-elsewhere. Listen, Jesse..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Mmhm?" Jesse beamed up at the Order of the Stone member, putting her lower arms behind her back and waiting.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I don't... think I can... visit, anymore."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse's smile faded. "What...?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I can't... I'm sorry," Ivor apologized to the little girl, whose entire body was drooping as she stared at him in disbelief.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"B-but you never come," she said, green and red eyes beginning to tear up, "you never spend time with me! Are you mad at me?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'm sorry," Ivor repeated. "No, no I'm not angry at you, I just- I just needed to come and say bye."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"But- but you can't leave, why- Ivor!" Jesse looked as though she were about to start crying. The six-year old really didn't understand why he had to leave. "Ivor!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor turned away. "I'm sorry," he repeated again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Don't leave!" And she ran towards him, a pleading look on her face.</em>
</p><p><em>Ivor spun around at the last second and smashed a bottle at her feet, and suddenly Jesse couldn't move. Well, that wasn't accurate- she </em>could <em>move, but slowly, slow enough that it wasn't good enough to do anything.</em></p><p>
  <em>Ivor looked at her with an apologetic look, before turning around and leaving.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The potion wore off a whole minute later, and Jesse was left standing there, staring forlornly after one of the few people outside of her friends who she'd trusted.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Everyone left.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And sometimes they never came back.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Oath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The bookshelf closed right on their faces, Ivor disappearing from view with a smirk as the shelves slammed together slowly. Jesse slowly came to a stop right in front of the now-shut entrance, and turned slowly as Axel tripped, even falling unnaturally slowly. Jesse hadn't found the effect funny then. She definitely didn't find it funny now.</p><p>"Waaattccchhhh iiit," Lukas said, before suddenly everything returned to normal speed, "<em>Get out of the way!</em>" he yelled.</p><p>Axel screamed, which became audible, before rather violently faceplanting only an inch from Jesse's feet, who stared at her friend with wide eyes. He'd come dangerously close to flattening the much-smaller female.</p><p>There was a short silence, with Axel not getting up off the floor, all of their eyes wide as everyone panted, silently.</p><p>"Everyone okay?" Jesse finally asked, a bit shakily.</p><p>Axel groaned at her feet, still not pushing himself off the ground. "I felt all of that," he moaned.</p><p>Olivia chuckled and winced a bit. "That was one <em>heck</em> of a landing, Axel," she said, rubbing her curly head concernedly.</p><p>"He mostly used his face," Lukas agreed, wincing a bit.</p><p>Jesse held out her hand to Axel (one of the lower ones), which he took and used to unsteadily steady himself and lurch to his feet. "We need to find Soren," Jesse said immediately, looking around. Jesse searched around the area, glancing through the bookshelves.</p><p>She turned back around to notice Petra wasn't with them, and walked over to her friend, who was kind of hunched over by a white table. Petra lifted her head a bit, making Jesse's heart shoot into her throat in fear.</p><p>Petra looked <em>worse</em>. Her skin was literally a shade of pale gray, and her eyes were going even darker gray, a huge deviation from the gold tint it used to be. Her arm also seemed stiffer, and the bruise thing was was spreading. The bags forming under Petra's eyes were a darker shade of gray than her skin, and Petra's face was beaded with sweat.</p><p>When Jesse spoke, her voice was a whisper, so as to not attract attention, but also because she was incredibly concerned. "Petra?"</p><p>Petra raised her head even more at Jesse's concerned tone. "I'm fine," she insisted, before Jesse could even ask.</p><p>"You don't look fine," Jesse responded.</p><p>"Everything's fine, all of it," Petra argued back.</p><p>"Doesn't look it," and Jesse reached out to put her hand on Petra's shoulder.</p><p>The moment her hand made contact, she instantly pulled away, a pained gasp tearing at her throat, frost smoking on her hand. It wasn't a lot, but Jesse had felt it through the cloak, which was already pretty thick. That was... bad. Very, very bad.</p><p>"Are you o-" Petra was cut off with a cough, "wait, are you-" another cough- "are you-" She went into a full blown coughing fit, her entire body shaking violently as spasms tore through her chest.</p><p>Jesse reached out instinctively and put her hands on Petra's shoulders, ignoring the frost that was now smoking on her hands, steadying her redhead friend.</p><p>Petra was silent, not even bothering finishing her question, before she showed Jesse her Blaze-Rod arm. "Look at this," she said, quietly. The purple was <em>spreading</em>, fast. The veins were turning purple, almost black, the ones that weren't going dull gray, at least. "I'm not trying to freak you out... but I'm a little freaked out right now. It's feeling really stiff." And Petra pulled herself into a hug, hands cradling her elbows and head lowered again, nestling deeper into the cloak with a harsh shiver. "And my vision's all jittery."</p><p>"We need to tell the others," Jesse said immediately, seriously.</p><p>"This isn't a 'we' thing," Petra argued back, shooting Jesse a glare that didn't scare Jesse in the least, because of how much <em>energy</em> it lacked.</p><p>THAT scared her, though.</p><p>Jesse put her hand on Petra's shoulder and forced the redhead to make eye contact with her. "Hey. We're all a team, okay? We're friends. And our friends deserve to know." She smiled encouragingly at Petra, or as encouragingly as she could while her hand smoked painfully.</p><p>"Maybe." Petra didn't seem too encouraged, as Jesse was forced to finally pull her hand away and rub them together to keep herself from getting frostbite, "Look, I-I'll them. Eventually." Petra's eyes dropped to the floor. It seemed as if <em>lifting her head</em> took too much energy right now.</p><p>"You have to," Jesse insisted.</p><p>"It's just gonna cause panic. And we can't afford that right now. I'll tell everyone, I swear. But... let me do it. Please... don't tell anyone, not even if they ask," Petra pleaded, which was what really scared Jesse- Petra was practically <em>begging</em> her. And the redhead <em>never </em>begged anyone. In fact, she'd rather punch them in the mouth, now that Jesse thought about it.</p><p>Jesse sighed, a sound that disappeared into the air silently, before whispering her agreement quietly. "Okay." And she did her signature oath, crossing her heart and then covering her eye but not actually saying the oath. As Petra went back over to the others, satisfied, Jesse whispered the oath, quietly, so no one could hear her voice.</p><p>"<em>Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, we were friends then, we're friends now, I'll stay your friend, even as I break my vow."</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Bats</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse pulled out the amulet, everyone looking at her as she did so. The red and green gems were glowing, but suddenly the glow faded. "Oh... huh." And she frowned at the amulet.</p><p>Lukas stepped forward, taking ahold of the amulet and trying to tug it away. "Here, let me have a look."</p><p>Jesse's fingers tightened on it. Gabriel had trusted her with it. She couldn't- she <em>wouldn't</em>- screw that up too.</p><p>Lukas tried to tug harder, but Jesse tugged back, and soon the two of them were engaged in a full-blown game of tug-of-war.</p><p>"Maybe you're just holding it wrong," grunted Lukas, trying to yank it away. "Or maybe-" more sounds of exertion- "you just have to jiggle it a bit."</p><p>"Do you mind?"</p><p>"I just wanna see it."</p><p>"You can see it without touching."</p><p>"Not if you can't get it to work."</p><p>Jesse opened her mouth to respond, before the thought struck her how <em>ridiculous</em> this was. She and Lukas had played tug of war a couple times as kids, but they'd quit the activity because they didn't honestly have any interest in it. Now they were re-engaging in it.</p><p>She started giggling at this. Lukas blinked at her in confusion before he started to titter, and then the two of them were having a giggle fit, the amulet clattering to the floor as they both let go, laughing so hard they could barely breathe.</p><p>Axel looked at Olivia. Olivia shrugged.</p><p>The two of them stopped giggling after a minute, letting out little sighs, before Jesse's eyes widened and the smile dropped into an 'o'. "Whoa!"</p><p>The white gem was glowing brightly.</p><p>"Soren!" all five of the hybrids chorused, Reuben squealing as well.</p><p>"Find him Jesse," Petra said, looking up at the dark-haired girl, "maybe he can help us."</p><p>Jesse stooped to retrieve the amulet, before holding it out and watching the glow. It grew brighter... brighter...</p><p>"He must be below us," Jesse hummed thoughtfully as the amulet clinked against the floor gently.</p><p>"Who knows how far down this goes?" Lukas wondered, frowning, "we might end up digging until we hit bedrock or something. Guys, we're not really equipped for this."</p><p>Jesse twisted her lips together and shrugged. "Well... we might not be equipped for it, but it's the only idea we've got. Unless anyone has any other bright ideas?" she smiled a little to show she meant no harm.</p><p>"Jesse's talking to you, Lukas," Olivia teased the blonde.</p><p>Lukas frowned. "I know, I-I just need a-"</p><p>"Boom!" and Axel punched the floor, leaving a small hole.</p><p>Jesse shrugged as she pocketed the amulet again. "Well, let's get to it, then!" And the five of them started digging, until it was just Jesse digging deeper and deeper into the floor, leaving a mock staircase behind her, before reaching a dark tunnel.</p><p>Jesse raised the amulet as she hopped into the tunnel.</p><p>"Are we cool?" Axel called down.</p><p>Jesse waved the amulet around. "Looks... pretty good, I think. Dark, but other than that, nothing too bad."</p><p>"Heading down, then," Olivia called, starting down the staircase Jesse had built, "don't look up! I gotta work up the nerve..."</p><p>A squeak from right behind her, and Jesse stiffened. "Wait..."</p><p>"You tell me that now?!" Olivia squeaked down to her friend.</p><p>Jesse swivelled on her heel, and let out a little yelp as a huge swarm of bats, which got startled by the light of the amulet, fluttered around in a swarm. Jesse batted at them, cringing as furry bodies and leather wings swatted her cheeks. "<em>Bats!</em>" she screeched, startled, batting them away with the amulet and her hands. The bats finally got past her and flew away, Jesse shivering nervously. "Um... okay, safe now!"</p><p>Lukas landed on the ground carefully, on all fours, Olivia bleeped into sight, and Axel free-fell right onto Lukas, who was practically flattened by the boy.</p><p>Reuben nudged Jesse's leg, as Petra hovered down, very unsteadily, and nearly faceplanted upon landing.</p><p>Jesse's eyes immediately filled with concern. "Everyone okay?" she asked, walking over to her friend.</p><p>"I slipped." Jesse frowned at Petra and arched her eyebrow, but Petra didn't say anything else. As Jesse turned away, she spotted Lukas staring at Jesse, then Petra worriedly, as if Jesse was going to call it out.</p><p>Jesse shook her head as imperceptibly as she could. "Later," she mouthed, and Lukas nodded in understanding.</p><p>"What's that smell?" Olivia wondered, making a face. Jesse had never known that Enderman eyes could wrinkle the way Olivia's did.</p><p>"Just... breathe through your mouth," Petra said, making a little face herself.</p><p>"Axel already does that," Lukas said, gesturing at Axel using his head.</p><p>Axel glared at the ocelot hybrid. "Hey..."</p><p>"Let's just get outta here," Jesse said, shaking her head with amusement as the two boys glowered at each other.</p><p>Continuing on through the tunnel, Jesse let Reuben walk right next to her as she held the amulet out. "Stay close, boy."</p><p>They reached the end of the tunnel, and Jesse stepped over to the edge carefully, looking around. There were <em>thousands</em> of other tunnels, below and above them, dyed wool decorating them and about ninety-nine percent of them connected by dyed wool staircases. Far below them, so far that Jesse had to squint to see it properly, was some sort of machine that was smashing together every few seconds.</p><p>Jesse slipped the amulet back into her pocket, the walls lined with torches. Lukas let out a gasp as they reached the edge as well.</p><p>Olivia said something that the smashing machine drowned out.</p><p>"<em>What?</em>" yelled Lukas in return, his ears pricking up as he strained to hear her better.</p><p>Olivia started retreating from the edge. "<em>We have to get out of here!</em>" she shouted back, over the machine's smashing together.</p><p>Axel frowned at his friend, who was really getting tall now- seriously, she was almost as tall as Axel, and Olivia had never been the tallest person. "We just <em>got</em> here!" he protested.</p><p>"You don't understand!" Olivia cried out, as one of the tunnels spat out a wave of water, taking several skeletons with it. The skeletons fell into the machine far below, which slammed together and made them explode into pieces, leaving bones and arrows behind and falling into... whatever was beyond it.</p><p>"This is a grinder!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. The Grinder of Doom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"They're meant to kill monsters," Olivia called out, "but the thing is that... they can't tell the difference between monsters and people."</p><p>"What's a grinder doing down here?" Jesse wondered, looking down at the grinder as it slammed together again.</p><p>"Not just any grinder," Olivia shook her head, "this is the craziest one I've ever seen. It has to be Soren's."</p><p>Hissing. They all turned to see some creepers approaching them, but with more curious looks than anything.</p><p>Petra whipped out her sword and ran towards them, Jesse following suit a second later. The two of them slashed their swords, Petra stumbling but still holding her own pretty well, before a creeper came charging at Jesse too fast for her to cancel it out and kill it. "DUCK!"</p><p>Jesse used her string to yank her out of the way, slamming her back into the ceiling painfully, as the creeper exploded and destroyed part of the tunnel with a rather loud boom.</p><p>Jesse dropped back to the floor, pulling out the amulet and holding it out over the hole, the white gem getting even brighter, "There he is, he's right down-"</p><p>The sound of rushing water hit their ears, and they all turned to see said water gushing towards them, pulling along more creepers towards the grinder.</p><p>Lukas lunged sideways, grabbing the edge of Petra's cloak to keep her from going over, Olivia bleeped to against the wall, Axel flattened himself against the wall and grabbed Reuben, but Jesse was caught off guard and the amulet toppled from her hands.</p><p>Jesse lunged for it, only realizing that it was through the hole made by the creeper as she fell forward, no time to turn around-</p><p>A pair of arms lashed around her torso, keeping her from doing a rather painful faceplant a rather good ways down.</p><p>She twisted to see Axel, and gave him a grateful smile, before whipping back around to check where the amulet was.</p><p>It had landed on a tunnel quite a ways down, and Jesse panted a bit as Axel pulled her back to safety. "Was that...?" Olivia asked, bleeping into sight next to Jesse.</p><p>"The amulet? Unfortunately," and Jesse raked her hands through her raven-black hair, squinting at the floor below her. Glancing at the floor of the hole, she shot a small thing of string, before jumping, feeding out the string as she went-</p><p>She landed on all eights (all eight of her limbs) a bit painfully, still a bit off-guard by how all of her hands could feel the wool, before turning to look back at her friends.</p><p>Olivia blinked and bleeped into sight a little behind her, Lukas hopped down and landed, Axel also hopped down and did a belly-flop (Lukas dodged this time) and Petra glided down before stumbling a little, but catching herself. Jesse found herself holding her breath a bit as Petra stumbled.</p><p>Petra then whipped out her sword, charging past Jesse and slamming a creeper off the wool-and-stone walkway they were walking on, which flashed at the contact before blowing up the edge of a tunnel, revealing some zombies that were inside.</p><p>The two females skidded to a stop as they reached a short staircase, where another creeper was. Jesse's eyes narrowed and she charged it, flicking out her sword and hitting it, the creeper flying into a wall and exploding on contact. Spiders crawled out of the hole that the creeper had created.</p><p>Jesse tumbled back from the force of the blast, doing a little flip before all of her limbs caught her and she straightened up, as Petra slammed a spider away and jumped off the edge of a tunnel, towards another walkway. Everyone followed suit, landing on the walkway.</p><p>Jesse twisted to see that it was almost literally raining monsters. Zombies let out moans as the water shoved them out of another tunnel or off the edge of a walkway, sending them to their second deaths below them. Creepers also fell from the tunnel they'd gotten out of earlier, hissing loudly.</p><p>An arrow nearly hit Jesse, who lunged backwards and did a crab-walk before pushing herself back to her feet. Jesse spotted Axel on top of a tunnel, his eyes narrowing as a zombie approached. He flashed white, and Jesse braced herself, but the blast from his explosion still sent her back a step or two.</p><p>"Jesse, get down!" Jesse obeyed and flattened herself against the floor, whereupon Axel charged forward and brought his fist into a zombie's face, making it fly towards Jesse. The zombie hit her back, but Jesse went ramrod straight and sent it toppling over the edge after its buddy.</p><p>"Who wants more?" Axel yelled.</p><p>Jesse gave her burly friend a look. "Why in the world are you asking for more? Don't ask for more! We don't <em>want</em> more!" she yelled.</p><p>Axel ran down some steps, but jumped to the side as an arrow flew past him and nearly impaled Olivia as it hit the wall, Olivia bleeping out of the way just in time. "Jesse!" she shouted to her friend.</p><p>Jesse waved her arms wildly at the skeleton, which was quite a sight and sensation- it tickled her sides. "Hey, ugly!"</p><p>The skeleton turned the loaded bow onto her instead.</p><p>"Watch out!"</p><p>Jesse threw herself backwards to avoid an arrow as it soared over her and vanished over the edge. Jesse raced down the stairs and was forced to stop as the skeleton raised another arrow at her.</p><p>"Hey, bonehead! I'm talking to you!" Olivia taunted.</p><p>The arrow flew at Olivia, who bleeped out of sight again and appeared twenty feet away. "Any time now, Jesse!"</p><p>Jesse raced down the rest of the stairs and charged the skeleton, which fired another arrow at her. Jesse proceeded to do a slider, and slid over before straightening up and slamming the skeleton full-force with her sword, sending it flying into the abyss.</p><p>The two of them jumped down to another walkway before racing along to where Lukas was doing his best with some spiders- Jesse shuddered a bit as he raked his claws across a spider's stomach and got greenish blood all over his claws- and where Axel was running down more steps.</p><p>Jesse ran towards Lukas, changing her path so that she was running straight for Lukas.</p><p>She then waved her arms and yelled... or, she... tried. What came out was a rather loud sounding hiss, and the spiders all turned to see Jesse, tilting their heads.</p><p>Until she sent a spider backwards and sent it plummeting to its death. Then the spiders retreated quickly.</p><p>Jesse looked back at Lukas. His mouth fell open, and Jesse turned, feeling her own eyes widen as thousands of spiders came creeping down the walls towards them.</p><p>The spiders began approaching the tunnel-top, although they seemed more confused than anything. Jesse stepped in front of Lukas, holding her sword out.</p><p>"You've got a saving-people thing," Lukas stated faintly.</p><p>Jesse looked back at him. "Um, thanks?"</p><p>"If you die because of said saving-people thing, I'm gonna kill you."</p><p>Jesse didn't have a chance to respond to that, because right then she looked up at the sound of rushing water, the holes they'd inadvertently created in the tunnels redirecting the water right at them.</p><p>"Oh crap," Jesse sheathed her sword, "<em>Hang on!</em>"</p><p>She grabbed Lukas and yanked him to her as the water washed them and the spiders over the edge, Jesse managing to latch onto the tunnel ledge with her fingers before it could send them to a watery death, clinging to her and her friend tightly. At one point he slipped a bit, but her lower arms also had a pretty good death hug on him, keeping him from dropping as well.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse," and Lukas was panting heavily as the two of them clambered back onto the tunnel-top, dripping wet.</p><p>Jesse wrung out her hair and the front of her clothes. "No problem. I just wanna know why we keep getting soaking wet," Jesse joked a bit, before squealing rang out in the air, and her head snapped over to see her little pink pig running away and being pursued by a herd of zombies.</p><p>"Reuben!" Jesse shrieked out, running after her pig.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. Amulet vs Friends (Definitely Friends)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse ran after Reuben, spotting Petra on a tunnel-top a little way below them, fighting off three creepers at once. She managed to kill one before it exploded, sending Jesse a slightly panicked look before whipping back to the other two as they closed in on her-</p><p>Jesse lunged down to Petra, doing a parkour roll and slamming into one of them, knocking it into its friend, and sending them both over the edge. One fell to its death in the grinder, while the other blew up a part of the ceiling of the next tunnel.</p><p>More hissing. Both girls looked up as a creeper fell towards them, both of them jumping back with a yell of shock. It didn't explode, surprisingly enough. More creeper toppled from above and made a landing next to Reuben and Lukas, shying away from the latter.</p><p>Oh yeah. Ocelot hybrid.</p><p>Reuben let out a loud squeal and galloped down some steps, past Jesse and off the edge of the tunnel top, Lukas following closely after her pig as he raced away from the mobs, which were now starting to follow.</p><p>"Jesse, incoming!"</p><p>Jesse's head snapped back to the other creeper at the shout as Petra slammed the creeper at Jesse. Jesse yelped and jumped after the ocelot and her pig, moments before it detonated.</p><p>Jesse shrieked as she landed on Lukas as he was getting to his feet, knocking him back down. Jesse bounced off of him, did a flip and slammed full-force onto her back a few inches from him.</p><p>"Aggh, that hurt," she groaned. Lukas let out his own little unworded groan from where he lay on his stomach. A moment of blissful silence, no monsters or rushing water interrupting it.</p><p>"Jesse, the amulet!" And Lukas pointed as he got to his feet. "It's over there!"</p><p>The glowing amulet was sitting on a tunnel top not too far below them. Jesse let out a little laugh of relief. Suddenly, Axel screamed, and they looked up as Axel and Reuben skidded to a stop on the tunnel top next to the amulet's, water rushing from above and sending deadly monsters their way. Most of the monsters stared at Axel in confusion, or were approaching tentatively. But they were approaching.</p><p>Reuben squealed in terror as the water rushed towards the amulet, sweeping it away to where it dangled on a corner, balancing dangerously above the grinder.</p><p>Reuben let out another squeal and began to run in circles around a skeleton as it tried to shoot him, Axel punching a zombie off the tunnel top.</p><p>"I gotta help them!" Jesse cried out, as a creeper was knocked off the tunnel-top by a falling zombie and second creeper.</p><p>"What about the amulet?"</p><p>A zombie approached her pet pig.</p><p>Jesse didn't even hesitate, but instead charged right for the edge. "You get it!" she shouted, left eye turning blood-red as she charged forwards.</p><p>She shot a web out as she jumped off of her own tunnel at the other tunnel top, and swung over to it, the momentum carrying her up and over onto the tunnel top. Lukas followed, but in a less fancy way- he just grabbed onto her silk and scrambled after her. He had a pretty good grip on the string, and it was fairly sticky. He should be fine.</p><p>Just in case, Jesse attached it to the tunnel top before turning her attention back to her friend and pig. "Get away from my <em>pig!</em>" she yelled, whipping out her golden blade, and knocked a zombie away from Reuben, which died the moment it hit the ground. It must've been injured in the fall earlier. Jesse whirled on the other one and sent it flying over the edge with an enraged yell.</p><p>"Got it!" Lukas yelled, waving the amulet at the dark-haired girl.</p><p>She gave him a thumbs' up, before- "Jesse! Behind you!"</p><p>Jesse turned at Axel's warning and lashed violently at a creeper that was sneaking up behind her, moments before another river of water slammed into her. It washed Axel and Reuben towards Lukas with yells or squeals of surprise, while Jesse was sent right over the edge with a scream of her own.</p><p>Jesse was falling past the other tunnels and walkways, so fast that her hair whipped her face and flapped in the wind, and so fast that she couldn't possibly aim with her string. And fast enough that her screams were lost to the air above her.</p><p>The same creeper from before was falling at Jesse as well, having been washed over the edge.</p><p>Jesse shot a strand of string at it, catching it, before spinning in midair and throwing it at the grinder below her, which was rapidly approaching. "Oh Notch," she tried to say, but the rushing wind stole any air in her lungs, making her just gasp inaudibly.</p><p>The creeper let out an angry hiss and violently detonated, blowing parts away from the grinder so that it was rendered pretty much useless</p><p>Jesse went through the now-useless grinder, splashing into another body of water, her entire body swarmed with bubbles and water as she plunged in, before desperately getting herself to the surface, barely able to keep herself afloat by flailing all eight of her limbs. A spider fell in along with some other monsters, but it just tilted its head before suddenly getting sucked into a hole in one of the walls.</p><p>Her friends slammed down into the water, stroking to the surface as fast as they could. Reuben started paddling over to Jesse, before suddenly another hole sucked him down, with a squeal that was lost to the water. Petra was sucked down, Olivia following after her, Lukas and Axel shooting into the ones in the walls, bubbles rising into the water.</p><p>Jesse tried to shoot a strand of silk at the ledge, but it was too late, and her entire body was yanked beneath the water as she shrieked, bubbles forming in the water as oxygen exited her lungs and she disappeared down a long hole to who knows where.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0034"><h2>34. Backed Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse slammed onto a stone floor, the water washing her a few feet aways. She lay there, breathing heavily, lungs dragging in air- sweet, breathable air- even as Reuben landed on top of her. It wasn't too bad, though, just felt like someone momentarily pushed her on the back. Reuben wasn't the heaviest little pig out there.</p><p>Jesse slowly managed to turn over, before sitting up and looking around as Reuben crawled off and squealed a bit in curiosity.</p><p>In front of Jesse was a blue-stained glass tube, with a spider eye, and other objects inside soaring upwards. There were more tubes in the room, with a variety of items, and a sort of huge delivery system comprised of minecart-chests rushing past on different tracks. So much redstone, and tracks, and stone, and other things that were used. It was actually a bit dizzying.</p><p>"Wow," Jesse spoke slowly, eyes wide as she stared up.</p><p>More water came gushing from the ceiling, making her head snap back to the ceiling, splashing down and pushing Lukas to Jesse's feet, Petra to the foot of one of the tubes, and Olivia onto a random, previously dry patch on the floor. Puddles were all over the floor.</p><p>Groaning, her friends slowly managed to get to her feet. Jesse noted the frost in the watery puddles that Petra was touching.</p><p>"I thought water was supposed to break a fall," Lukas groaned, his blonde hair flopping into his eyes. Jesse had to giggle a bit at the new hairstyle as he combed it back into it's usual messy, spiky hairstyle.</p><p>"Is everyone okay?" Jesse asked, concerned, looking around at her friends. "W-we're all good?"</p><p>Lukas gave Jesse a sheepish grin. "Well... definitely not thirsty anymore." Jesse stifled a laugh at that. Yep, Lukas was perfectly fine.</p><p>Olivia smirked at that, pulling back some soaking wet, bouncy curls, "we're good."</p><p>"Hey," Petra asked, panting slightly as she combed short, wet, red hair out of her eyes, "where's-"</p><p>She was cut off by more screaming, and more water splashed across the already-wet floor and Axel landed right on top of Lukas, who was knocked back to the floor.</p><p>"Never mind."</p><p>"No, no," Axel said, somehow not realizing he was sitting on Lukas, "don't worry, I'm totally fine." He grinned at Jesse.</p><p>Beneath him, Lukas let out a moan. "<em>Whhyyyyy...</em>"</p><p>"Oh crap," and Axel practically jumped off of the smaller male, eyes wide. "I'm sorry."</p><p>Jesse gave Axel a rather scrutinizing look, but he <em>did</em> seem rather sorry about the whole thing.</p><p>Reuben let out an excited series of oinks, rushing back over to Axel. Lukas tried to get up, but he landed in a slippery patch and fell right back down. Jesse went over and helped Lukas to his feet, as Axel picked Reuben up and walked over to his female friend. "I knew you'd come for us," and he was grinning brighter than the sun, "I just knew it. Reuben had his doubts. I owe you. If there ever comes a time I can pay you back for that, I will, with interest."</p><p>Jesse gave him a grin and wrapped her arms around the rather burly male. "I'm just glad you're okay." And she looked around the room with a soft, warm smile. "All of you."</p><p>Axel squinted at Jesse. "... there's something different about you, Jess."</p><p>Jesse blinked.</p><p>"You're..." Axel spotted the tubes through the glass floor. "Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on," he chanted, peeking down at the floor and the loot going through it, "this is where all the loot gets sorted, right?"</p><p>Olivia nodded, looking down at the floor as well. "Yep. That's precisely what it is."</p><p>Axel grinned at her. "See that? Things are starting to turn around."</p><p>Jesse blinked again, before smiling again, standing on her tiptoes, and ruffling his hair. "Axel?"</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Don't ever change."</p><p>"It's cool what you did up there," Petra spoke, walking towards her friend, "we stick together, and we'll be fine. It's good to know you're not letting all this get to your head. I was worried it might."</p><p>Jesse turned around to Petra with a warm smile. "Thanks, Petra. Means a ton."</p><p>"Everyone's looking at you to lead," Petra continued, before glancing over Jesse's shoulder. "Well, actually... maybe not everyone."</p><p>Jesse looked over her shoulder at the blonde boy, who was examining the amulet. "Looks like it's still working," he spoke.</p><p>"Ah, yeah," Jesse turned around to face him, "thank you so much for grabbing that up there. Could I please have it back?"</p><p>Lukas turned to her with a small smile, ears twitching. "No problem."</p><p>The white glow brightened before he could give it back, and he gasped and jerked back. "Hang on a moment... he's close... Soren's close by." He pointed it at a stone archway leading into another room. "He's gotta be... this way. Look how bright it is!" Lukas's ears and tail were twitching excitedly.</p><p>Then the amulet went dark.</p><p>Lukas's brow creased. He tried shaking it, but nothing happened.</p><p>Jesse squinted at the amulet curiously, before suddenly a loud rumble echoed throughout the room. Everyone looked up, a bit startled.</p><p>"Sounds like the grinder's backed up," Olivia said, sounding puzzled.</p><p>Jesse stared up at the ceiling, before something registered, and she stiffened. "Oh <em>no.</em>"</p><p>Another waterfall came from the ceiling, washing several vicious monsters down there. Great.</p><p>"Go go go go go!" Jesse yelled, everyone starting for the archway- except Lukas. He was paralyzed in fear again, eyes wide, and Jesse grabbed his arm, ready to pull him after the others, but another blast of water hit them before they could move, knocking them back to the floor.</p><p>Jesse swallowed nervously as more monsters got to their feet. None of them had reached the archway yet.</p><p>Crap.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0035"><h2>35. To the End!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Olivia let out a scream of shock as a rotting hand grabbed her wrist, and she bleeped to several feet away, just as a skeleton fired an arrow. The zombie was hit by an arrow and fell over, and another one that was coming over tripped over the body of the other zombie before the first one burst into smoke.</p><p>A large explosion blasted through the monsters, and the hybrids all sprinted for the doorway as fast as they could, Jesse and Petra slashing with their swords sharply to ward off some of the monsters.</p><p>"Axel, look out!" Olivia yelled, and Jesse twisted to see a spider land on Axel. Axel obviously couldn't explode again after doing it only a couple of moments before, only managing to spark a little bit, and he couldn't quite reach it, since it was perched on his back.</p><p>Jesse opened her mouth to yell, but instead what came out was a strangled-sounding hiss.</p><p>The spider stopped and looked at Jesse, tilting its head.</p><p>"Leave him alone!" Jesse hissed to the spider- but what came out was, in fact, more hissing.</p><p>The spider, to her surprise, hopped off Axel's back and crawled away.</p><p>Everyone blinked, before Jesse spun around and lopped the head off of a skeleton before it could shoot her. "<em>Run!</em>" she barked to them all.</p><p>"There's two things I hate," Axel mumbled as he sprinted after her, "it's running and monsters."</p><p>They sprinted through the archway, pulled a tight turn, and darted through into another room, staring at the thing in front of them in the floor.</p><p>"Holy <em>crap</em>," Olivia gaped. "An End portal."</p><p>She reached towards the night-sky inside of the portal, the 'stars' reflecting in her eyes- her dark one, and her glowing violet one, her expression softening. She leaned towards the portal a bit.</p><p>"Wait!" Jesse turned as Lukas glanced over his shoulder- and then let out a gasp. "Wha- look!"</p><p>Everyone turned to see Petra in the red cloak, still fighting off monsters. A zombie collided with her, sending Petra roughly to the floor.</p><p>All four of them hissed, Olivia's mouth opening to reveal suddenly jet-black teeth, Axel's eyes dilating to huge proportions, Lukas's fur standing on end as he glowered, and Jesse's arms raising.</p><p>"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Jesse shouted in a warning to Petra, flicking her sword out again as Petra scooted backwards, away from the monsters. Jesse dropped to all eights and flew at the monsters, before lunging to her feet and slamming the sword's tip deep into the zombie's chest, making it explode into smoke.</p><p>Olivia bleeped into sight and grabbed ahold of the cloak, yanking Petra away from the monsters as Lukas skidded into the room, raking his claws recklessly across a skeleton's ribcage, snapping the bones from how roughly he did it.</p><p>Axel charged forward and flashed white, Jesse grabbing Lukas and running away-</p><p>The explosion still blasted her forward, so that she rolled and slammed into the base of the End portal, Lukas now on top of her, both of them groaning in pain, before Jesse managed to get to her feet.</p><p>Everyone ran up to the portal, Jesse sending them a last glance as more monsters came pouring into the room, "<em>Jump!</em>" And she catapulted herself forward into the portal.</p><p>The Nether Portal and End Portal have a huge difference. With the Nether Portal, you felt an icy heat take over your body. The End Portal felt as though Jesse had stepped into a lake, but with the main difference of the fact that after only moments, you felt searing heat take over you. Your lungs felt as though they were boiling, your skin feels as though it's burning off, and your bones felt like they were being burned into ash.</p><p>Jesse's back slammed against a block, her lungs squeezing out air even as she tried to inhale, pain still searing her skin. Even when the pain faded, she could feel it tingle over her skin, like pins and needles.</p><p>Her eyes scanned the deserted landscape, except for tall obsidian towers, a vibrant purple sky, and the ground looked white-yellow.</p><p>Moments later, Lukas landed, his hand squeezing the amulet so tightly Jesse was actually worried it might break. "Oh- oh boy. This is- this is terrifying. This just gets better and better, doesn't it?" And he let out a high-pitched, nervous laugh, ears twitching. His tail twitched too, gold-and-black flicking over the ground like a sort of flame.</p><p>Olivia appeared a moment later, her hands holding Reuben as though he were a block, arms ramrod straight and her body the same way. Jesse actually had to crane her head back to make some eye contact with her now-much-taller friend. Olivia quivered, before setting down her pig, muscles relaxing. Petra appeared a moment after that.</p><p>"Where's Axel? He was right behind me!" Olivia exclaimed, looking around in slight alarm.</p><p>A loud scream, and Axel landed right on top of Lukas. Again.</p><p>"C'<em>mon</em>, man! Come on!" Lukas eked out in pain, as the amulet rolled away a couple feet. Jesse shot a strand of string, hooked it, and retracted it, the amulet slapping into her open hand.</p><p>Axel hastily shoved himself off of Lukas, and Lukas sat up, an annoyed look on his face. And then he developed a frozen look, and he put his hands over his face. "Oh jeez..."</p><p>Axel frowned, actual concern showing in his face. "Did I break something...?" he mumbled, quietly.</p><p>"Oh man- wh- I- I-"</p><p>Jesse put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?" she asked, concerned.</p><p>Lukas removed his hands, showing his blue-green eyes and revealing that he was not, in fact, crying. "What- no, I'm not- I'm not crying, just-" his breath hitched in panic, "<em>look!</em>"</p><p>Jesse started turning, but she'd only gotten halfway before snapping to face back to Lukas, her own eyes widening. "Well, rather... don't," she joked, feebly.</p><p>Because behind them, were thousands of Endermen.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0036"><h2>36. The End (Endermen Galore!)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse felt something teleport right behind her, and she slowly turned to meet a black midriff, glancing up. It turned around to face the group, and most of them, out of habit, slapped their hands over their eyes and rushed away.</p><p>Except for Olivia. She stared up slightly at the Enderman, frozen, who stared back at her with empty eyes. It tilted its head at her as if in confusion.</p><p>Jesse doubled back, having taken to peeking out of the corners of her eyes to avoid looking it directly in the eye, and took Olivia's hand. Olivia seemed to shake herself out of it, and slowly retreated to a safe distance while Jesse held her hand, a little too tightly. Olivia didn't say anything.</p><p>They all crouched behind one of the black structures, Olivia still looking kind of dazed, purple eye practically glowing as she stared at the Endermen.</p><p>"What do we call that?" Lukas whispered, his voice quivering, "A- a herd of Endermen? A 'flock'? A swarm?"</p><p>"A haunting," Olivia said, sounding a bit dazed as well as her eyes roved over the Endermen. Everyone's gaze flickered to her. Olivia's height was already noticeable, but it looked as though she'd gained even MORE height in the last couple of minutes.</p><p>Jesse shivered a bit as she looked back at the 'haunting' of Endermen, chills crawling up her spine. "Call it whatever you want. As long as we don't look at them, we'll be fine," she stated.</p><p>"Yeah," Lukas gasped breathlessly, "yeah."</p><p>"Which way are we headed, Jesse?" Axel asked, when Olivia kept staring aimlessly at the Endermen.</p><p>Jesse pulled out the amulet again, the white glow illuminating her face. Moments later, the glow started flickering.</p><p>"I guess since the amulet can't locate people in the Nether or the End, it makes sense that it wouldn't <em>work</em> in the Nether or the End," Jesse sighed, as it flickered out entirely.</p><p>Petra nodded, but Lukas started laughing, making all of them look at him. "Great. Whoo, man," he stated, faint sarcasm tinging his voice, and growing heavier by the second as his ears and tail twitched in a ticked-off-way, "so we were trapped, and now, we're lost. So, we go from... uh, a death machine, that nearly drowns and-or crushes us, and we land <em>here.</em>" And he flailed his arms wildly at the Endermen milling around them. "In the End. Which, is the right name for it, since, incredibly, we don't even know where we're going!"</p><p>Jesse cupped her elbows, staring at the floor. "Well... at least we're alive. We just have to keep on going until we get to Soren," she said, staring at the floor and trying to hide the fact that her eyes had started getting shiny. She wasn't a leader, she wasn't good at leading or taking charge, yet somehow she'd ended up as the makeshift leader of their little group, and she had no idea what to even do.</p><p>Lukas deflated a bit at her slightly defeated position, frowning at her with a soft sigh. "Let's face it, Jesse, we might never find this guy," he said, in a softer voice.</p><p>Axel pointed at something. "There he is."</p><p>And when they turned, sure enough, a figure with ginger hair could be seen climbing a staircase in the distance.</p><p>Lukas blinked. "Did that just happen?"</p><p>"That was cliche," Jesse nodded, blinking in surprise. Her topmost set of arms went to her chin and crossed over her chest, the lowest set placed their hands on her hips, and the middle two put the amulet away again.</p><p>"Yes, but... convenient," Petra agreed with a faintly amused smile, crossing her arms beneath the cloak.</p><p>"I can't believe that just happened," Lukas murmured, surprised. "That was... like we just conjured him." A more hopeful look was posing itself on his face. Jesse was forcibly reminded that none of them- the others- had seen their respective Order member after they'd gone to defeat the dragon. They'd had no idea if they were dead, or alive, or even okay, except for Jesse. Even when she'd assured them that they must be okay, all of them had been very quiet and awkward, and soon after that Jesse stopped trying to assure them. She looked away from Lukas, hoping that would stop the slight ache that was growing in her chest.</p><p>"Wonder where he's going," hummed Olivia thoughtfully, her eyes distracted from the Endermen around them.</p><p>"Only one way to find out... we gotta go," Jesse said, looking from Soren to her friends.</p><p>"Everyone follow me," Petra said, beginning to walk to the front of the group, "I'll get us to the other side, just stay behind me and we'll-" she hacked a bit, covering her mouth, before recovering, "we'll be fine."</p><p>"That... doesn't sound like a good idea," Lukas said tentatively, "actually, you know what? I'll just go."</p><p>Both Jesse and Petra looked at him in surprise. Jesse moved to stand behind her ocelot friend, who glanced at her. "Give me a chance," he spoke softly, barely loud enough for Jesse to hear, "just say the word, and I'll do it."</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before turning back to her friends. "Everyone, follow Lukas. And if all else fails, Olivia, I'm relying on you to get us out of here."</p><p>Olivia nodded seriously, and Jesse looked back at Lukas just in time for her to catch his grateful smile and nod, before he turned around. "C'mon!"</p><p>Jesse dropped to all eights and followed him, making sure to keep her gaze on Lukas's feet. Glancing behind her, she saw Petra pull the hood of the cloak up and cover her head (probably to avoid the urge to look up), Axel drop to all fours, Reuben gallop after her as he was, and Olivia bleeping out of sight.</p><p>They reached some sort of platform, with a staircase right behind them.</p><p>"Nice moves back there, Lukas," Petra said, smiling faintly at him. Lukas smiled back, even though it seemed to fade a bit as he took in Petra's greying skin. "Thanks..." and he turned to Jesse, smiling slightly with his ears perking up, "You too, Jesse. Thanks for giving me a shot."</p><p>They all turned to look at the staircase. It was going to be a terribly long climb.</p><p>"Great," grumbled Axel, "we're gonna die and it won't even be exciting."</p><p>"What, from the stairs?" Olivia asked, giving her friend a weird look, strange daze forgotten, "if Jesse can survive Magnus going wacko on her-" Axel must've told her about the Death Bowl- "then I'm pretty sure we can survive a long staircase."</p><p>Jesse gave both of them a sheepish look, a playful smile dancing across her mouth. "Honestly? I think I'd rather face wacko-Magnus."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0037"><h2>37. Staircases and Wool Worlds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They started up the stairs, Axel already looking kind of tired by the time they reached the first landing. "I hope that someday I love something as much as Soren seems to love stairs."</p><p>Jesse snorted, but her grin faded as she glanced back to see Petra arrive at the landing last, pausing to clutch her head. She waited for her redhead friend to catch up, before the two of them kept going up the stiars.</p><p>"Jesse?" Petra asked, after another few flights of stairs, "could you give me a sec?"</p><p>Jesse turned to look at her friend whose hands were on her knees. Her entire face was shining with sweat, her eyes were going even duller than before, and her skin was a pale shade of <em>grey</em>, not just her arm, which was now completely gray with the purple mottling it. She coughed into her shoulder.</p><p>Jesse stared at her friend, eyes shining with concern. "Petra? Need a hand?"</p><p>"No, no, I can manage, thanks," Petra said, straightening up, even though it looked like it took effort.</p><p>Jesse sent Petra a deadpan look, before arching her eyebrow.</p><p>"Really, I'm fine. I'm good. We can keep moving."</p><p>Jesse frowned, reaching out one of the lower arms, but Petra shook her head. Jesse reluctantly, silently, turned back around, showing that Lukas and Reuben had stopped only a few steps away from them, watching the two girls.</p><p>Lukas sent Jesse a curious frown.</p><p>Jesse shook her head again. "Later," she mouthed.</p><p>Lukas pinched his lips together, looking concerned, but finally gave a slow nod and followed them.</p><p>They reached the last landing, all of them panting a bit. "So many stairs," moaned Axel.</p><p>Jesse frowned at the ladder that was leading up. "Ahh, a ladder..." she mumbled, crossing her arms.</p><p>Axel pouted slightly, crossing his arms. "Better not be a long one."</p><p>Jesse put her hands on the ladder, all of them grabbing onto the rungs except for two of her middle ones, and in no time at all, she was at the top of the ladder, a double trapdoor at the top, surrounded by what appeared to be... something green. Wool?</p><p>Jesse pushed open the trapdoor and climbed out, staring around with wide eyes.</p><p>"What do you see?" Lukas called up.</p><p>"I think I'm seeing things," Jesse responded, staring around at the trees, the ground, the river, and the sky, which looked strange. And the sun. Can't forget the sun. "It's like... another world up here."</p><p>Lukas popped out behind her, crawling out as well. "Woah," and he squinted against the 'sun', "so bright..."</p><p>Everyone came up, staring around them as Jesse hopped down the hill, looking around. The ground felt a bit funny beneath her feet, sort of squishy.</p><p>Another yell, and Jesse twisted to see Axel trip, fall, and slam into Lukas, knocking them both to the bottom of the hill, Axel landing on top of them.</p><p>Jesse cringed.</p><p>Lukas just let out a sigh. "That's my body, Axel," he sighed, "my broken, battered body."</p><p>"The ground's squishy," Olivia commented, as Jesse walked closer to one of the trees, "almost like carpet."</p><p>"Looks funny, too," Axel commented, squinting at the ground.</p><p>"This... doesn't look like a normal tree," Jesse said, softly, squinting at the tree carefully.</p><p>"Glad to hear it," Lukas mumbled sarcastically, sounding as if someone had just kicked him in the ribs, "now could you <em>please</em> get off of me?"</p><p>"Sorry, dude."</p><p>Jesse reached out and placed one hand against the tree, eyes widening as she did so. "What in the w- it's made of wool!"</p><p>She turned to face the others, running a hand over the floor. "The, the trees, the grass, it's... wool!"</p><p>Lukas touched the wool as he got up, his claws snagging and forcing him to tear through the wool a bit, a frown on his face. "Um... so... we've been resting our hopes on this guy, and he's made some sort of... articial Happyland?" he asked, the hope on his face from earlier having died.</p><p>Axel broke the silence that met Lukas's sentence. "Well, it's real wool."</p><p>Lukas frowned at the ground, not saying anything.</p><p>Jesse reached out automatically and pulled the ocelot hybrid into a hug, and after a moment, he returned it. "Well, you know Soren best- wasn't he kind of... um... eccentric?" Yes, that was the word she was looking for.</p><p>Lukas snorted slightly and rather huffily at that. "Eccentric is putting it nicely. I don't know, maybe he's gotten kind of whacked since I last saw him," and his voice was pretty bitter as he said that.</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before gently pushing her friend away and holding him at arm's length. "Well, you heard what Ellegaard and Magnus said- he's been alone. Maybe he just missed home."</p><p>Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Lukas shoved her hands off, his ears and tail twitching angrily. "If you miss home, you go and visit. You don't build an exact replica. Look around, Jesse!" he snapped, claws extending even more, "if the greatest builder of all time has spent years working on this, what are the chances he'll even have that bomb?!"</p><p>And he whipped around, tail almost hitting Jesse, and stormed away. "I've had enough crazy for one day."</p><p>Jesse frowned after him, worry in her eyes, turning to Petra as the others spread out, looking for clues to find Soren.</p><p>"Petra, on a scale of 'ugh' to 'aggghhh', how bad do you feel?"</p><p>Petra looked worried for Lukas, but she snorted at that. "Someplace in between. But, I'm holding on. For now."</p><p>"How'd you think Soren got out of here without leaving clues behind?"</p><p>Petra looked around the wool world (huh, that was pretty catchy), "He IS the greatest builder of all time. If anyone knows how to put in the secret-est of secret doors, it's him."</p><p>"Hmm... I guess I gotta go find a secret mechanism, then," Jesse sighed, raking a hand through her hair, "I'm gonna keep looking around, then."</p><p>"Look away," Petra said lightly, giving Jesse a tight smile.</p><p>Jesse turned away from her redhead friend, giving her one last concerned look, before turning around.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0038"><h2>38. Secret Doorways</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse found a lever on a wool tree. She flipped it, a musical sound floating through the air when she did, and the far left of the lamp-cloud on the opposite wall lit up. "Neat," Jesse hummed.</p><p>She went over to Reuben, who was standing near some blocks of pink wool. She gently patted Reuben's head, making the little pig oink happily, "you like that, don'tcha, boy?"</p><p>Reuben let out a happy little oink, before Jesse knelt down and held out her fist. "Gimme a fist bump!" she coaxed, and Reuben cheerfully obliged, gently hitting his hoof against her fist.</p><p>Chuckling softly, she left him to admiring the pink wool and went off, spotting a wooden fountain nearby. "Well, at least that's not wool. Must be all sorts of water systems in this place," and she dipped her fingers in the water for a moment, before spotting Lukas glaring at nothing in particular.</p><p>Shaking the water off her fingers, she walked towards Lukas, who didn't even acknowledge her.</p><p>"What do you want?"</p><p>Jesse frowned at that. "Lukas, I know you're upset, but you've gotta keep it together."</p><p>Lukas didn't look towards her, sighing. "I know, I do, but... I just..."</p><p>Jesse waited for him expectantly. He finally sighed and looked at her, blue-green meeting green and red.</p><p>"Listen, I- I know I've been kind of prickly, but... I think something's wrong. With Petra."</p><p>Jesse turned to look over her shoulder at Petra, purplish bags starting to form under her eyes, in a sort of hunched over position. Jesse looked back to Lukas, her eyes sad. "You- you have to have noticed," Lukas continued, "the lack of energy, the labored breathing... there's something wrong, okay!?" He seemed to be getting frustrated, "something big. It's not fooling anyone." he looked at the floor. "At least not me."</p><p>Jesse glanced back at Petra, and then stepped closer to Lukas. "Petra has Wither Sickness," she spoke, softly.</p><p>Lukas's head snapped up to look at her.</p><p>Jesse hesitated, not sure what to say, before Lukas broke the silence, whisper-shouting. "Petra has Wither Sickness?! But- but- but she's half Blaze! How did she-"</p><p>"She... made me promise not to tell anyone, but..." Jesse looked back at Petra, before back at Lukas. "I'm scared, Lukas." And in that moment, Jesse was six years old again. "I'm scared that Petra's pushing herself too hard. I'm scared that she's going to push herself too hard and then we'll lose her." Tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, no matter how hard she blinked them away. "I don't want that."</p><p>Lukas was silent, before he initiated the hug this time, pulling the slightly shorter female into a hug. Jesse felt the ache in her chest from earlier return, stronger this time, and she clenched her fists as the two of them hugged.</p><p>Finally, Lukas let go of her, blue-green eyes worried. "Thanks for telling me. I won't... I won't tell Petra that I know. I promise I won't. I'll just... watch out for her. Okay?"</p><p>"Okay," Jesse whispered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, before crossing her heart and then covering her eye.</p><p>Lukas smiled a bit at that, repeating the motion, before Jesse spotted something. She walked off to the side a bit, reached out, and toggled a lever. The lever on the wool tree flipped, making the far-right of the lamp-cloud glow, leaving only the center portion dark.</p><p>"Thanks, Lukas," and she smiled back at the blonde. "I think I needed that."</p><p>Lukas nodded. "Anytime."</p><p>Jesse gave him one last smile, and walked away, searching with her eyes, before spotting one last lever, rushing towards it and flipping it. The center cloud glowed brightly, completing the cloud and making it glow brightly. "Whew."</p><p>She went over to the wall nearby, looking at a small stone button, before reaching out and pushing it. The sound of shifting pistons sounded, and Jesse stepped back hastily, before a part of the wall slid into the floor with a rumble, leaving a huge doorway there.</p><p>"That's... amazing," Jesse stared at the archway and into the room beyond, with a fountain in the middle. Reuben came up to stand beside Jesse, with a soft oink. "Hey, guys! I think I found Soren's way out."</p><p>Everyone came up to the doorway, peering in. "Okay... wow." And they all started making their way inside, slowly.</p><p>"Nice sleuthing, Jesse," and Petra sounded impressed, "Sorry I wasn't more help back there. When I think about how I ran all over Endercon looking or Ivor, or when I got that skull... it's hard to imagine that I'd done any of that... now that I'm like..." and she gestured uncertainly at herself.</p><p>Jesse gave her a hug, trying to ignore the frost that started creeping across her front. "I'm just happy you're okay," she said, sincerely.</p><p>She released her after a moment, swatting off the frost, before walking inside. Petra had started shivering again, even with the cloak on. The huge hallway the secret door led to was decorated with tables with torches on them, and bushes and glowstone hanging on the ceiling. It was beautiful, even though it looked as though it hadn't been used in a long time.</p><p>"We'll check out the rest of the house," said Petra, as they all began to split into little groups, "see if we can find Soren, before he finds us."</p><p>"You make it sound like he's a serial killer or something," Axel commented.</p><p>"We don't know that he isn't," Petra joked slightly, making them all chuckle.</p><p>"That is <em>so</em> encouraging," Lukas smirked, before continuing on.</p><p>Jesse looked at some of the fountains. "Guess the water system's not just for the outside. Not- that the outside was actually... the outside," she mumbled, continuing into the next room, past another fountain, where Olivia and Reuben were looking at a door.</p><p>Olivia and Jesse shared a look, Jesse pressing her ear against the door a moment later. "Hmm, well, there's some music. But I don't hear anyone talking in here..."</p><p>Suddenly, a voice started talking, faintly. "I call that one 'symphony in E'." A little laugh, that Jesse hadn't heard for a very, very long time. "A new composition to celebrate my newest discovery!"</p><p>"Soren?!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0039"><h2>39. Endermen (So Many Endermen)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The two of them opened the door and went in, stopping in front of a jukebox, from which Soren's voice was emitting.</p><p>"What the-" Olivia stared in dismay.</p><p>"It's a recording!" Jesse exclaimed.</p><p>Olivia let out a groan. "After all that, he's not even here?!"</p><p>The recording laughed. "I, uh, should probably eat something. I'm positively lightheaded with excitement!"</p><p>Olivia frowned. "We came all this way and for what?! We're no closer to Soren than before."</p><p>Jesse hummed thoughtfully. "Wellll, this record couldn't have turned on by itself," she pointed out.</p><p>Olivia's expression lightened a bit, as realization dawned on her face. "Huh. Good point. I guess he really likes the sound of his own voice, then."</p><p>"Maybe there's something useful on the record, if we can figure out what he's talking about..."</p><p>"I've worked up a simple set of building instructions, to... inspire them. I will disguise myself and hide among them in order to observe them more closely."</p><p>"Observe who more closely?" Jesse contemplated.</p><p>Olivia squinted at some purple stained glass. "I wonder why Soren built a purple wall. It's not completely opaque though. Just really, really blurry," she commented.</p><p>"What? What are you talking about? Liv, that's purple stained glass, not a purple w-" Jesse turned to stare at the glass, before freezing, her face going pale. "... oh. <em>Oh.</em> Do you think Soren was talking about Endermen?"</p><p>Olivia blinked at the question, before she covered her right eye, and her face blanched. "<em>Oh.</em>"</p><p>Because behind the purple glass were thousands, and thousands, and <em>thousands</em> of Endermen, teleporting about and picking blocks up at random.</p><p>"Endermen?" Jesse gaped, "Soren has been experimenting with <em>Endermen?</em>"</p><p>"Everything ELSE about this guy has been kind of pointing to crazy," Olivia mumbled, thoughtfully.</p><p>"I suppose everyone needs hobbies," Jesse hummed, putting her hands on her hips, "even if they're... very, very, VERY dangerous. You think he's training Endermen to build stuff?"</p><p>"I think HE thinks he's training Endermen to build stuff," Olivia responded.</p><p>Jesse hummed thoughtfully, before spotting a blueprint resting on a chest nearby. She went over to the chest, lifting the blueprint to one of the simplese designs of all time. It was made up of six blocks, five forming a capital letter 'L' and the remaining on sitting in the top right corner. The text said something about it being in all clay blocks.</p><p>"Whatcha got there?" Olivia asked, making Jesse jump. Turning around, and tilting her head back, she held out the blueprint. "It's some sort of crafting recipe. I'm just wondering why someone like Soren would need a recipe for a shape this simple."</p><p>Olivia craned her neck to look at the recipe, before her eyes lit up. "Because they're not for <em>Soren</em>, they're for the Endermen! This must be trying to teach them to build!"</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened, before she slowly pocketed the recipe. "Well, let's go find some clay blocks, then." And the two of them quickly searched the room, managing to find five clay blocks but not being able to find the sixth one.</p><p>"That's weird... how are we supposed to finish the design then?" Olivia mumbled, but Jesse's attention had fixed on the armor stand in front of the stained glass window. "Um... Olivia?"</p><p>Olivia turned as Jesse stared at the little black suit that was about her height, with purple eyeholes.</p><p>"An Enderman suit... either Soren has a rather unique fashion sense, or... hold on a second!"</p><p>Jesse nodded and looked at the stand next to it. "Looks like a taller one was hanging here, but it's missing... Soren must be wearing it! This is the disguise he was talking about!"</p><p>"In order to walk among the Endermen, you have to become an Enderman!" Olivia nodded, eyes widening.</p><p>Jesse frowned and looked outside. "Soren must be conducting his experiment right now- what with this suit missing and all."</p><p>Olivia's excited expression fell. "Which means that if we want to get to Soren..." The two of them glanced at the glass, "we're going to have to go out there to do it."</p><p>Jesse looked at the Enderman suit, before back at Olivia. "Maybe, if you tried to go... uhh... 'more' Enderman, and I put on the suit.. we could find Soren."</p><p>"Two sets of eyes are better than one," Olivia agreed, "and we'd have a backup- if you got found out, I could just teleport you out of there."</p><p>Jesse walked over to the Enderman suit, stepping into it. It was big enough that it still fit over her clothes, but tight enough so it didn't hang off her thin frame. She pulled the hood one, her vision turning purple from the purple eyeholes, and pulling down the gloves, wrinkling her nose that the funny smell. Endermen smell a bit like rotting cake. It's disgustingly sweet.</p><p>Getting INTO the suit itself was rather awkward, though, what with Jesse's extra arms. She finally managed to squeeze into it when she wrapped her lower arms around her midriff and inhaling as deeply as she could. The suit was a little bulgy because of that, but it wasn't too uncomfortable- the suit was fairly loose anyway, and the elastic quality let her arms squeeze into it without ripping. So that was something.</p><p>Jesse turned around to see Olivia shooting several inches taller than she already was, her arms getting longer and hands turning jet-black, both eyes starting to turn faintly purple, and her outfit darkening.</p><p>Both of them looked at each other, a tall Enderman with slightly curly hair and a much, much shorter one.</p><p>"Someday, far into the future, we'll look back at this and laugh," Olivia spoke, her voice oddly echoing and slightly warped.</p><p>"Not any day soon, I can tell you that," Jesse grumbled, making the two of them chuckle.</p><p>"I've already decided that only Endermen at peace build structures," the recording was still going, "when agitated, such as yesterday, they don't seem to have any interest in building things. Only... hitting me. With their fists. Repeatedly."</p><p>This earned a wince from both girls.</p><p>"Meanwhile, peaceful Endermen will move blocks to any spot on and on, until they somehow achieve... satisfaction, and walk away. Clearly, this will require further detailed observation." A pause. "I am so, so lonely."</p><p>"How are we going to find Soren? I mean, the suits do look fairly realistic..." Olivia frowned, "and we can hardly just go up to every Enderman and ask 'hey, are you Soren?'"</p><p>Jesse smirked at that. "You're part Enderman. I think you might be able to sense any discrepancies."</p><p>Olivia thought about that. "Okay. That seems pretty legit."</p><p>And with that, the two of them stepped outside, Reuben squealing in fear as Jesse slowly shut the door behind her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0040"><h2>40. Soren</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An Enderman came up to both of them, and Jesse held her breath as she stood there.</p><p>The Enderman leaned forward, getting right in Jesse's face, Jesse forcing herself to stand stiller than a stone, before back in Olivia's. Olivia stared back evenly, blankly.</p><p>The Enderman finally wandered away.</p><p>"You look for Soren- I'll see if I can finish the shape, maybe that'll get Soren's attention."</p><p>Olivia nodded slowly. "Good luck," she warbled- her more 'Enderman-like' voice sent shivers down Jesse's spine.</p><p>"You too," and the two of them split up.</p><p>Jesse wandered into the crowd of Endermen, most of them not looking at her. She spotted a clay block. Problem- an Enderman was holding it.</p><p>Jesse grimaced. "Well... I need six blocks. And this guy's got the only block around." She let out a sigh and kneaded her temples, feeling a headache coming on. "The things I do to save the world."</p><p>Jesse went up to the other Enderman, which didn't even look at him. She carefully reached out and took ahold of it, looking up at the Enderman, which was now looking at her.</p><p>Slowly, so slowly that Jesse felt as though she were moving at a snail's pace, she began to pull the block out of the Enderman's unresisting hands.</p><p>As she slowly pocketed the block, the Enderman started shaking and making angry hissing sounds. Jesse hissed back, trying to fool it, but apparently spider hisses and Enderman hisses are different, because it just kept on hissing.</p><p>"Damn it," Jesse whispered, feeling all the color in her face drain away, "dammit, dammit, dammit."</p><p>She quickly began to walk away, walking to a square in the ground made up of dyed wool and glass panes. Jesse quickly placed down the blocks, trying to ignore the hissing and spitting. "Ooohhh, I hope Soren's watching," she groaned, before doing her best to <em>quickly</em> finish the design, her hands shaking in fear.</p><p>Jesse stood back a step, looking at the design. "Okay, false evidence of Enderman intelligence, accomplished."</p><p>Jesse looked around and spotted Olivia, trying to get to her, but the other Endermen were starting to crowd far too closely to her, not leaving any room for Olivia to teleport- not unless Olivia wanted to teleport right onto Jesse's head.</p><p>"I am sorry about this," a voice said.</p><p>Jesse's head whipped in the direction of the voice, coming face-to-face with another Enderman. "But it has to look real."</p><p>She barely had time for her eyes to widen before Soren raised his long arm and whacked her right across the head.</p><hr/><p>Olivia let out a screech of horror as Jesse fell to the floor like a puppet with all the strings cut, the Enderman having hit her.</p><p>There was something funny about it, but she was really too far to see anything. Besides, her best friend, her oldest friend, was in danger, and the Enderman hybrid was developing tunnel vision.</p><p>"Jesse!" she screamed, warped voice lost among the other Enderman voices that were screaming with rage and not fear, like she was. Her mind scrambled to think of a place, and she thought of the inside, one of the rooms before the one she and Jesse had entered to find Soren.</p><p>And then she bleeped out of sight.</p><p>Her feet slammed full-force into the floor, and she practically fell to the floor, shrinking back to her still-rather tall height and slamming into the floor painfully. All of the others jumped, staring at her. "Olivia? Where'd you-"</p><p>Olivia scrambled to her feet, eyes wide with fear. "<em>Jesse got attacked by an Enderman!</em>" she screeched over all of the confused voices, voice no longer warped and strange.</p><p>The door banged open behind her, and Olivia turned to see the door wide open and Lukas gone.</p><hr/><p>There was a ringing sound when Jesse started feeling again. Her cheek was on the floor. It hurt. Everything hurt. Her head, especially. What just happened? She was outside with all the Endermen... now she was back inside...</p><p>A pair of legs walked past her, and Jesse closed her eyes again, feeling the throbbing headache pound through her head as her brain reeled with confusion.</p><p>"I-I don't think it'll bruise."</p><p>Jesse opened her eyes to see Reuben's face only inches from her own. "Your face, I mean."</p><p>Jesse sat up, Reuben letting out a happy oink upon realizing she was okay, the ringing fading. The tall Endersuit was back on the stand.</p><p>"These suits were built with durability in mind."</p><p>Jesse turned to see Soren, who was kneeling near her, looking at the girl with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>"Soren- ow-" And Jesse clutched at her head as she sat up far too fast, the room swimming before her.</p><p>A steadying hand rested on her shoulder, and she felt the room stop spinning again, slowly removing her hands from her head. "Help me. Please," she said, still trying to get to her feet slowly.</p><p>"I just did."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow a bit as she managed to push herself upright. "You... hit me. Hard. In the face."</p><p>"You upset the Endermen, and I got you to safety. By the way, as far as introductions are concerned... this is not going very well."</p><p>"We're in danger," Jesse said, shakily getting back to her feet.</p><p>"What else is new? Whatever your issue is, whatever your problem, it has occurred before and has been solved before," Soren responded, sounding far from happy.</p><p>Jesse put her hand against the wall as the room swayed. "I doubt the world has been eaten up by a Witherstorm before," she grumbled, very quietly.</p><p>"Even so, what do you need me for? I've out of my way to avoid these types of problems. I don't even remember what it looks like up there."</p><p>"Please help me save the world," Jesse pleaded, trying to resist the urge to sit back down.</p><p>"How?" Soren still didn't look at Jesse.</p><p>"The Formidi-Bomb."</p><p>Silence.</p><p>"There's a Witherstorm on the loose, and it's eating the world."</p><p>"Ahh, I see, you misspoke," and Soren turned to face her, "you don't need me. You need my stuff."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Technically, I need you to <em>build</em> said stuff," she pointed out, but Soren was already talking again.</p><p>"I found that when you give people what they want, they turn on you. They become resentful. They show their true colors."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Who turned on you?"</p><p>"All of them!" Soren was glaring at the wall as if it had offended him. "It's why I prefer Endermen. They always do what you expect. Almost to a fault. You're a stranger. And what you're asking for is too dangerous."</p><p>Jesse knew that Soren's mind was in a delicate balance. If she couldn't convince him to help them now now, she never would.</p><p>With that in mind, she began to speak.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0041"><h2>41. Partial Reunion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I have the amulet."</p><p>Soren didn't turn to face Jesse. A moment later, he said, "What?"</p><p>"Gabriel gave it to me."</p><p>Soren turned, to see Jesse pleadingly holding out the amulet. Part of the reason was maybe hoping that he'd recognize it, but the other half was because her lower arms were getting rather uncomfortable in the Endersuit.</p><p>"Gabriel?"</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath. "Gabriel asked me to reassemble the Order of the Stone."</p><p>"They asked for me?" Soren asked, wonderingly, slowly. "I've always known they needed me, but... I never was sure if they wanted me. It's lonely down here, without your friends."</p><p>"Ellegaard's your friend," Jesse said, tentatively.</p><p>"Hmmm, I dunno. Does she ever talk about me?"</p><p>"Sure," Jesse said, sheepishly. Ellegaard HAD talked about Soren, so she wasn't lying...</p><p>"What kinds of things do they say? Specifically. Give me an example."</p><p>"That you were missed," Jesse said finally, putting her hands behind her back sheepishly.</p><p>Soren blinked a bit. "Really?"</p><p>"Maybe it was more... miss-ing," Jesse continued, slowly. "You have to read between the lines."</p><p>"Yes... yes, you do. But what about you?" Soren arched his eyebrow at Jesse. "Are you my friend?"</p><p>Jesse immediately nodded. She did remember bits and pieces about Soren. Especially how he'd bring them chocolate sometimes. And how well he and Lukas had gotten along. "Yes," she replied.</p><p>Soren's face broke out in a grin, and he threw his hands up into the air. "That's the best thing I've heard in years! ... admittedly, that's not a very high bar. Don't worry, I'll help you. That's what friends do."</p><p>Jesse was about to respond when the door banged open, and Lukas sprinted in, his face red with exertion and his blue-green eyes filled with panic. "Jesse?!" he practically shouted.</p><p>"Lukas?" Jesse turned to see him, but then she remembered Soren and swiveled back to the ginger builder-</p><p>He was staring. Like, he was <em>literally</em> staring at Lukas, mouth slightly open and grey eyes wider than dinner plates. Finally, he swallowed, coughed softly, and then said something so quietly that they could barely hear him.</p><p>"Lukas?"</p><p>Lukas was staring too at the builder, his blue-green eyes flicking over the builder, drinking him in hungrily as if he'd been a cup of water in the desert. "Soren?" he said finally, tentatively.</p><p>The syllables had barely come past his mouth when the builder had Lukas in a tight hug, Lukas's arms pinned at his sides as the builder squeezed him tightly. Lukas's eyes widened, and he awkwardly reached up and patted him on the back.</p><p>He'd barely done it once when Soren pushed him away and stared at him, a big grin coming across his face. "It's <em>terrific</em> to see you! And you're so much taller. Wait-" and he whirled on his heel, staring at Jesse. "That... Lukas just called you Jesse. Are you...?"</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before shooting a strand of string at the floor. Soren's grin widened. "Fantastic!" he exclaimed. Jesse was reminded of Lukas back at the temple, but the thought barely crossed her mind before Soren had grabbed both Jesse and Lukas and yanked them into a tight hug.</p><p>Lukas shared a bewildered look with Jesse, before his expression softened into a happy smile.</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but smile back as Soren released them, just as Olivia bleeped into the room again, followed closely by Axel.</p><p>"Soren?" Olivia gave Jesse a bewildered look.</p><p>Jesse shrugged and mouthed, "Tell you later."</p><p>Lukas stepped over to Jesse and took her hand, tugging her closer with a relieved purring sound. Jesse raised her eyebrow at her, but then her eyes widened as Petra came in.</p><p>She was worse. Going even grayer, the bags under her eyes nearly black. Her shoulders were hunched over, as though she were trying to curl into a ball while walking. Breathing so labored that you could hear it, even without listening for it. Her gold eyes- her formerly gold eyes- were turning dead black. No shine, no nothing. It looked as though she hadn't slept for centuries. And the temperature. Jesse was only ten feet from her, yet she could feel the chill radiating off of her redhead friend.</p><p>She looked like she was about to die.</p><p>"Nice to see you, Soren," Petra said, in a faint, scratchy voice.</p><p>Soren's eyes widened. "Petra?" he walked over to her. "You look... terrible."</p><p>"Gee, thanks," Petra rasped, but then her eyes shfited, and they widened.</p><p>Jesse looked over her shoulder, and repressed a loud gasp as they saw an Enderman standing in the dead center of the lab.</p><p>"I thought we're safe in here!" Jesse squeaked in fear.</p><p>"The Endermen don't <em>know</em> they're being held captive," Soren responded, his voice sounding a bit higher, "you can't escape when you don't know you're trapped. But... yeah. Yes, this is quite- quite bad."</p><p>"Not helping, Soren."</p><p>And then another one teleported in.</p><p>Everyone slapped their hands over their eyes, except for Olivia, who stared blankly back at them, hoping it might work.</p><p>It didn't. An Enderman started screeching in rage, the one next to it screeching, and then the two began screeching at each other.</p><p>"You've upset them!" Soren said, seeming torn between glaring at Jesse and hiding behind the spider hybrid, "you've altered their behavior!"</p><p>"Run!" And the seven of them (including Reuben) tore out of the room without any more words.</p><p>Not that it helped. The moment they opened the door, Jesse slapped her hand to her forehead.</p><p>The whole room was <em>crawling</em> with Endermen. There were so many that dodging around them without being spotted was as likely as finding a needle in a haystack. Which is to say, not all that likely.</p><p>"I wasn't expecting so many houseguests," Soren said, feebly. "There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them."</p><p>"I can't tell if you're joking or not," Lukas whispered back.</p><p>Jesse dropped her face into her hands. "Just this once, couldn't something be <em>easy?</em>" she bemoaned.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0042"><h2>42. Endermen for Days (I'm Sorry)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Okay, so how are we supposed to get out of here?" Lukas hissed- literally. All of his fur was standing up on end as he stared at the Endermen endlessly milling around the room. "We seriously need to come up with a plan. And not our-our usual, '<em>we'll-come-up-with-a-plan-when-we-need-to-OH-WAIT-NOW-WE-NEED-ONE-</em>" His voice had been rising and was as close to a shriek as Jesse had ever heard it.</p><p>"Shhh!" Axel hissed, the usually loud, boisterous male's voice quiet as Jesse'd ever heard it.</p><p>"-kind of plan," Lukas's voice dropped back to a whisper.</p><p>Jesse glanced back at Soren, who was staying in the back. "Soren, you're the one who's been studying Endermen for years. Any ideas?"</p><p>Soren watched the Endermen, before turning back to Jesse. "One constant about Endermen is that they hate water. If you could get one of those fountains to overflow... Jesse, you or... ahh... Lizzie?"</p><p>"Olivia."</p><p>"Olivia could go."</p><p>Olivia shook her head. "When I fell into that water earlier... I really didn't want to say anything. Everything was... it wasn't important. But, when I landed into the water, I felt like I was getting a static shock. All over my body. It's not too bad, but..." Olivia trailed off. "If we're trying to fool the Endermen, I'll have to go more fully Enderman and I'm not that sure if it'll be worse."</p><p>Jesse pinched her lips together. "Hmm, okay... gah, just as I thought I'd never have to smell this thing ever again," she groaned, pulling the mask over her head. "Nobody better hit me in the face again."</p><p>Soren gave her a sheepish grin.</p><p>Jesse continued forward, as Petra rasped, "Good luck."</p><p>Jesse slowly made her way forward, holding her breath carefully as she moved forward. She glanced at one Enderman that watched her rather carefully, before turning back to the front and repressing a huge gasp as a pair of violet-tinted eyes met hers.</p><p>She froze in place. Maybe, just <em>maybe</em>, the Enderman wouldn't see her, just... <em>maybe...</em></p><p>It worked.</p><p>Miraculously, <em>it worked</em>. The Enderman turned away, its back facing her, and then walking away smoothly. Jesse allowed herself the softest sigh of relief, and kept going, over to the fountain.</p><p>Only to jump, trip over her feet, and nearly faceplant when Soren called out to her, quietly. "Try not to die."</p><p>Jesse could've cheerfully strangled him. "Really?! You decide to develop a sense of humor now?!" she hissed at him, eyes wide and angry. (And, faintly amused- wait, don't tell Soren she said that. He'd never let her hear the end of it. Let's get back to the topic on hand, shall we?)</p><p>He got the point.</p><p>Jesse tiptoed to the fountain, before slowly punching through the blocks restraining the water. She let out a shout of triumph as water splashed all over the floor, making all of the Endermen loudly hiss and teleport to higher ground.</p><p>Jesse turned back around to her friends and waved her arms like pinwheels- once again, <em>quite</em> the awkward sensation. Jesse also spotted her hands beginning to turn blackish, as though she'd started wearing fingerless gloves. "Coast is clear!" she called.</p><p>Everyone tentatively edged forward, towards the short Enderman. Olivia just made a little face. "Gosh, it feels like pins and needles," she remarked, awkwardly.</p><p>Jesse looked into the next room and let out a groan. "Aw, I gotta do this twice?" she moaned, at the sight of the room swarming with just as many Endermen as before, if not more.</p><p>She marched forward, making motions to her friends to stay behind and out of sight. Reuben had to nudge Axel slightly, but Axel'd gotten distracted and toppled over with a yelp and a splash.</p><p>Jesse went straight to the fountain, with a little sigh. "Okay, fountain number two, prepare to meet your doom." And just like a few moments before, she broke though the blocks, leaving water to splash all over the floor and into the other Endermen, making them screech in fury before they teleported out of the way of the water.</p><p>"Okay, everyone, let's go!"</p><p>Axel opened his eyes, and, upon seeing no Endermen in sight, bolted for the exit. The others were quick to follow, and Jesse raced after them- only to nearly slam full-force into Petra, although she applied the brakes at the last second, skidded, and fell into the water with a splash. Apparently the shock was a bit too much for her arms, because there was a ripping sound, and the Endersuit ripped.</p><p>Jesse hastily pulled the shredded suit off as best as she could and got back to her feet. "Sorry, sorry," she whispered, truly apologetically. Then- "What's wrong?"</p><p>When none of her friends answered, Jesse gently pushed to the front, and her eyes widened.</p><p>The wool world was practically coated in the tall monsters, which were EVERYWHERE. The bridges, the 'grass', the trees, even some of the other structures. The only place they weren't was in the water.</p><p>Jesse let out a long, slow breath. "Well," she said, finally. She really wasn't sure WHAT to say.</p><p>"They're <em>everywhere</em>," Axel squeaked.</p><p>"How are we supposed to get through this? Both physically and psychologically. If we somehow get through this..." Lukas shuddered, his hair and ears shivering like a leaf, his tail growing rather bushy. "I can't say this won't become some sort of recurring nightmare. N-no offense, Olivia."</p><p>Olivia shook her head slowly. "None taken," she breathed.</p><p>Slowly, everyone turned to look at Jesse. Even Soren, and he'd been the leader of the Order of the Stone.</p><p>Jesse bit her lip. "Hmm... well, we're all monsters. I don't think Endermen react towards monsters. Maybe, if we all tried to go more into our monster forms... we could get to the trapdoor? I'm sure if Petra lent Soren the cloak, he'd be able to make it through. And... well, I'm fairly certain mobs don't react a lot towards other mobs."</p><p>Everyone regarded the scene before them. "Well, it's the only idea we've got," Lukas sighed, at last.</p><p>Jesse nodded, her heart in her throat.</p><p>One of the most dangerous parts of their journey so far was about to start.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0043"><h2>43. Water Escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse bit her lip, clenching her fists. With that, she started thinking all thoughts related to spider. It was a bit strange, since she'd been trying to disregard the fact that she was half spider for the longest time now.</p><p>She felt her height shrinking, but it didn't really hit her, until her arms hit the ground. Looking back at herself, she spotted a faint reddish mark on her back. She looked down at the water pooling on the floor, and almost jumped at the sight of herself.</p><p>Her body was proportioned like a rather small human, but her eyes were starting to turn red, both of them, and the green one was a muddy color. And if she looked closely, she could see fangs.</p><p>Jesse did her best to tilt her head up- her face was only a little higher than where Reuben's head was poised above the ground.</p><p>Lukas was much smaller than he'd previously been. His hands were mostly fluffy now, furry and gold and more like paws than actual hands. His eyes were definitely more of a shade of green than before, and his face was beginning to look slightly fuzzy as he stood on all fours, ears flicking in agitation.</p><p>Olivia was so tall that in Jesse's new state, it actually hurt her neck to look at Olivia. Her eyes were violet (well, one was. The other was bright.) and more of her body had turned a shade of jet black, and her clothing was a darker shade than it usually was. Her hair seemed straighter, too, now that Jesse noticed.</p><p>Axel's skin was turning a shade of mottled green, and his eyes were dilated to such huge extents that the whites were lost. He was also on all fours, Reuben perched on his back. The only parts of him that didn't look green, were parts- patches, really- of his face, and maybe the tips of his fingers.</p><p>Petra's eyes were faintly gold, but the rest of her was more of a dull gray. The Blaze Rods around her were gray, and purple, and falling apart. They seemed to be disentegrating even as Petra wearily hovered into the air, her body shaking. Hopefully, if they had any luck, Petra would be able to make it to the trapdoor.</p><p>Jesse bit her lip. "Ready?" she hissed, her voice sounding horribly strangled from her new spider-vocal cords.</p><p>Everyone nodded and hissed, meowed, or warped their agreement. Soren had taken the cloak from Petra and wrapped it around him carefully.</p><p>So they continued forward.</p><p>Jesse could feel the gazes of all the Endermen fixed upon them. It was awkward, it was scary, and Jesse was pretty sure that everyone that was a human or at least half were terrified out of their minds by this little development.</p><p>Jesse maintained her gaze on the ground, which was easy, because her head was not in an awkward position so it was easier to keep her head down.</p><p>At least, it was until she heard the screech.</p><p>Jesse's head whipped around, and everything seemed to go in slow motion as Petra fell to the ground like a puppet with the strings cut, her eyes shut as the Blaze Rods vanished. The exertion had been too much. The Endermen around her were starting to screech.</p><p>"PETRA!" she hissed, voice rising into more of a human tone.</p><p>It gave her away. The moment of panic shocked Jesse out of her focus, and she found herself a bit higher above the ground now, more Endermen starting to screech around her.</p><p>Olivia bleeped into sight, scooping Petra up- giving off a harsh shiver as frost immediately formed on the Enderman hybrid's arms, before bleeping away again. Olivia had also reverted to her regular form, probably also panicked.</p><p>"Into the water!" Soren yelled, and everyone leapt in without hesitation.</p><p>Olivia treaded water even as she flinched, the water around her starting to freeze solid. "We have to-" she winced. "We have to get out of here!"</p><p>Jesse paddled over, grabbing ahold of the unconscious redhead, feeling the temperature change the moment she got within five inches of the redhead, shivering rather harshly.</p><p>"When I built this place," Soren started talking, "I was worrying about how flammable the building material is. So I built a fire suppression system to keep the whole place from going up in flames."</p><p>The cold probably was affecting Jesse, because she took a good five seconds to respond. "So- so there's more water?" she asked, barely able to keep ahold of Petra. Axel relieved her of the burden, shivering as he took ahold of the redhead. He looked as though he wanted to explode at Jesse and fire questions at her about Petra. He also seemed to get that now was not the time to do so, thank Notch.</p><p>"Much more!" Soren responded, "if we activate it, we could disperse all these Endermen while getting to safety. The lever's right up there," and he pointed.</p><p>Jesse turned, raised a hand, and fired a string at it. It caught, and Jesse retracted it, using it like a grappling hook to pull herself up. She still was really bad at controlling it, and found herself flying full speed at the wall. She barely managed to catch herself, and even then her palms stung. Reaching up the best she could, she yanked the lever.</p><p>"Okay, I have no clue how much water this thing's going to kick out, so-"</p><p>She was cut off rather abruptly as a huge wave of water slammed her off the structures, the building filling up as the water level rose steadily and rapidly.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath before her head dropped into the water. Petra shook her head, faintly coming to, and Jesse and Lukas quickly swam over to the redhead and supported her as they kicked and swam for the trapdoor, everyone else going for it, no Endermen in sight.</p><p>Soren went through, then Olivia, who was moving rather sluggishly, then Reuben, then Axel.</p><p>Jesse felt her breath running out. Her chest pounded, her head pounded, and every impulse in her body was screaming at her to breathe.</p><p>She felt her hand graze the trapdoor, and, jolting herself back to reality, she tore it open, pushing Petra through, Lukas following, and slamming it shut behind her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0044"><h2>44. Breaking</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"We made it!" Jesse gasped in relief, water pouring off of all of them. Lukas had shaken it off, but Jesse and Petra had to actually work to swat off some of the frost off of Petra. Some of the water had actually turned to ice on Petra.</p><p>Olivia was shaking herself off as best as she could, and Axel was just wringing out his hoodie. Jesse shivered a bit. Was it really so cold in here before? How had Jesse not noticed?</p><p>"Making it is relevant," Soren responded, spitting out a little water.</p><p>Jesse turned, and then her eyes widened. "Ahhh, crap. Forgot about that."</p><p>More monsters were making its way towards her, skeletons and spiders and creepers and zombies. So many different types that it looked like Endercon or something.</p><p>Man, Jesse hadn't thought about Endercon for ages now. Felt like years, really.</p><p>Jesse whipped out her sword and slashed at the zombie, killing it with three hits, doing a crab-walk to avoid a couple of arrows and then straightening back up and slamming her sword full force into another zombie. "Not that this isn't fun or anything," she remarked sarcastically to Soren, "but can we just grab that Formidi-Bomb and get <em>out</em> of here?!"</p><p>"One... small problem," Soren remarked, drawing his own sword and fending off a zombie. "Tiny really." He slammed the butt of the sword into its face, before driving the sword through its body. He looked up at the raven-haired spider hybrid. "Miniscule."</p><p>"Get on with it, Soren."</p><p>"... I haven't actually built it yet."</p><p>Jesse and Lukas shared an incredulous look.</p><p>"That's a small problem?!"</p><p>"How is that a tiny problem?!" Lukas complained, "that's a <em>huge</em> problem!"</p><p>Soren let out a nervous chuckle, before his eyes lit up. Jesse recognized that spark in his eye. Although, she didn't recognize whether it was the 'I have a great idea!' spark or the 'I have an idea but you should probably run away before I blow all of you to smithereens by accident' spark.</p><p>"You two are people who appreciates cool stuff that's cool for no reason, right?"</p><p>Jesse and Lukas shared a panicked glance, as Lukas grabbed a bow and arrow from a fallen skeleton and shot a mob that was approaching Petra, who could barely hold the sword.</p><p>"Sure."</p><p>Soren jerked his head at the inside of the archway. "Go ahead and throw that lever behind you."</p><p>Jesse looked over her shoulder, and sure enough, there was a ladder on the wall. Jesse shrugged, stepped back, and one of her lower arms flicked up and smacked the switch.</p><p>"Hold onto your socks," called Soren's voice, as inside the monster-infested room (not counting the five hybrids, of course), pumpkins fell from the ceiling and landed on top of Ts of iron blocks, "'Cause they're about to get blown off!"</p><p>The iron blocks for each individual T shivered into an iron golem, leaving small shards of iron and dust all over the floor. "Go to work, boys!"</p><p>Axel blinked. "Holey cow."</p><p>A golem raised one of its arms and smacked a zombie out of the room. Another one kicked a skeleton into the wall, and the third took ahold of a zombie by the leg and brought it down on the floor, making it explode into a little pile of rotten flesh, the zombie's rotted brains splattered across the floor. (Oh dear, I really hope you weren't eating while reading that...) A spider jumped at another golem, which casually caught the spider and then tossed it over it's shoulder as if it were nothing more than a little wad of paper. The fifth one held a zombie as though it were some sort of bizarre, rotted baseball bat, and batted the spider with it, sending them flying at another group of monsters and bowling them over.</p><p>"That is cool," Jesse agreed.</p><p>"No kidding," Lukas nodded.</p><p>"Awesome!" Axel cheered.</p><p>A skeleton backed away as two iron golems advanced on it, and both slammed a fist into it at the same time, sending the skull soaring across the room and bounced across the floor before exploding into dust. Soren winced a little, before they ducked as a zombie went flying over their heads and blasted into the wall. Another skeleton met the same fate as the zombie. Another zombie was trying to back away, but one of the six golems knocked it facefirst to the floor. "Yikes," Olivia winced.</p><p>"When those golems are done with the monsters," Jesse said, tentatively, "they're not going to attack... <em>us</em>, right?"</p><p>Soren looked at the five hybrids and the pink pig, before shrugging. "Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies."</p><p>"Um, that didn't actually-"</p><p>"Ask me no questions!"</p><p>"Speaking of asking questions," and everyone looked at Axel. He turned to Petra casually- and then grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED BACK IN THE END!?" he sounded rather panicked, and his eyes were as wide as Jesse had ever seen them. He looked like he was actually on her verge of a huge panic attack.</p><p>Jesse and Lukas let out twin shrieks and fled over to Axel, Jesse wrapping all six arms around the burly male to try to keep him away while Lukas tugged Petra away, his hair starting to stand on end. "Axel, Axel, don't!" Jesse yelped, "you don't shake a sick person!"</p><p>Axel stood there, taking deep, steadying breaths, as Petra held her head in pain. "But what <em>happened</em>?" Axel sounded as though he were starting to squeak, in both fear and anger.</p><p>"Petra has Wither Sickness," Lukas spoke up.</p><p>Petra's head snapped to look at Lukas. "You know about it?" she asked, looking surprised.</p><p>Lukas glanced at Jesse. It was only a glance, but it was enough.</p><p>Petra's head snapped around to look at Jesse, a glare in her eyes. And maybe a look of... betrayal, too. "You <em>told </em>him?! I thought I told you not to tell anyone!" she practically yelled, before dissolving into a coughing fit. "I thought- you promised!" she hacked out, glaring at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse frowned at Petra. "Sorry," she said softly.</p><p>"You promised you- you wouldn't tell!" Petra was coughing more fully now, but her glare did not abate in the least.</p><p>"Sorry," Jesse repeated again, softly.</p><p>Petra lunged to her feet, lunged forward and brought her hand across Jesse's face in a harsh slap, everyone letting out exclamations of shock as she did so, and Lukas wrapping his arms around Petra to keep her from lashing out anymore, yanking her back. Jesse didn't flinch, just stood there with a hand to her reddening cheek and a sorry look in her green and red eyes.</p><p>"Petra, what the heck's gotten into you?!" Lukas exclaimed in shock, as Petra kept thrashing around and trying to hit Jesse angrily.</p><p>"No, she's right," and everyone looked back at Jesse, who was looking at the floor. "I- I shouldn't have told you, Lukas. I should've just stayed quiet."</p><p>Petra's eyes relaxed, and a slightly embarrassed look came over her face. "I'm... I'm sorry Jesse. I don't know what came over me," Petra apologized, reaching up and rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.</p><p>"It's okay. It's my fault anyway."</p><p>The others couldn't have possibly been able to tell that Jesse wasn't just talking about Petra slapping her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0045"><h2>45. Hope?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, except for the Iron Golems wandering the room for more monsters, ignoring the hybrids.</p><p>"You guys hear that?"</p><p>Jesse looked at Axel, confused. Besides the stomping of the golems, there wasn't any sound to hear. "Hear what?"</p><p>"All that stuff," and Axel took on a jokey ghost-y voice, "'Take me, take me now'."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes but giggled anyway, looking up at the many minecarts zooming peacefully back and forth around them, as if nothing had happened.</p><p>"I think it's saying 'Olivia should get to take more than Axel,'" Olivia joked along, doing her own ghost-y voice, "but why? 'Because she's cooler'."</p><p>Petra smirked in amusement.</p><p>"Aw, c'mon, loot," Axel joked, frowning playfully at the minecarts and crossing his arms, "I thought you and me were tight."</p><p>"I suppose it couldn't hurt to take a couple of things," Jesse said, shrugging slightly.</p><p>"I'll just fetch the super TNT," and everyone looked at Soren. "It's right up there."</p><p>He pointed to a spot above the archway, where a platform with three chests on it sat. There wasn't a staircase or a ladder to get up to it, so Jesse had to wonder HOW he was going to fetch it.</p><p>"Do you need me to shoot a web up there?" Jesse asked, looking from Soren to the chests in bewilderment.</p><p>"No need." The iron golems jumped onto each other's shoulders, creating a golem ladder of sorts. Soren clambered up them, reaching the platform very quickly.</p><p>He looked back down at them, who were gaping at him, stunned once again. "Oh, feel free to help yourselves. Just make sure you keep an eye out for the gunpowder we'll need to make that Formidi-Bomb."</p><p>Jesse followed Lukas and Petra, and Petra slumped down against the wall, no longer full of energy like just now, but instead looking as though she'd just gotten shot.</p><p>Jesse knelt down a bit, putting her hands on her knees as she tried to keep eye contact with the sick Blaze, "Are you..." Somehow, okay seemed like a bad term to use here.</p><p>Lukas looked at the raven-haired girl sadly. "It's gotten really bad."</p><p>Jesse looked back to Petra, who was staring at the floor listlessly, as Lukas said, "Part of me is hoping, that when we bomb the Witherstorm, the sickness will just- dissipate."</p><p>Petra managed to raise her head to meet Jesse's eyes, giving her a weak smile, "'D be nice, huh?"</p><p>After a second, she had to lower her head again, a soft groan going through her throat and her eyes shutting. Lukas looked at Petra, eyes shining with worry. "It- it makes sense, right?"</p><p>Jesse knelt down and pulled Petra into a hug, using the opportunity to dash her hand across her eyes, wiping away the tears that had started forming. "We can hope. And we will hope," she said, arms still around her friend.</p><p>Petra didn't respond, but slowly her arms made their way around Jesse, and the redhead and the black-haired girl sat there, intertwined in a hug, for what felt like years, before Jesse had to pull away, batting carelessly at the frost decorating her clothing, her arms, and even a bit of her hair.</p><p>"Fingers crossed, right?" And Lukas made a weak little smile.</p><p>Jesse nodded and returned it. "Toes, too."</p><p>Jesse got up, and began searching through the room for the gunpowder in earnest. There was one small bit of it in the chest here, another there, and soon, Jesse managed to find eight little piles of gunpowder, sticking them in her pockets. As she did so, her fingers grazed the book, reminding her that she hadn't read it in a while. Looking around and seeing everyone doing their own thing- Olivia had tugged a fishing rod out of a chest, for some reason- Jesse slid down the wall and pulled it out.</p><p>
  <em>'Ivor still doesn't come. At this point in time, Jesse has started cycling through with all of us, but it is obvious she'd prefer Ivor to be there. Ellegaard said she was going to convince him. I don't know how she will, but I believe her when she says she can do it. Lukas is getting very good at crafting, but he's very good at shooting arrows, surprisingly. I suppose since his eyesight is good, he has pretty good hand- er, paw-eye coordination. Lukas takes an interest in building, too.<br/>~Soren'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'I convinced Ivor to come with us once a week, since we're visiting on an almost daily basis now. We need some time to ourselves, and the children are a very relaxing thing to go visit (even if Magnus and Axel occasionally blow up half the room once in a while). And by convince, I mean I slapped him across the face and gave him a twenty-minute long lecture. Jesse has been quite quiet lately, sometimes going to her own corner and trying to read a potion book, but I don't think she finds it as fun without Ivor there. Heaven knows why she likes him so much.<br/>~ Ellegaard'</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Ivor came with us today, and holy Notch you should've seen Jesse jump on him, she was so happy. He stammered out some explanation that he'd only be able to come once a week unlike the rest of us, I think that's what he was trying to do, but she didn't really seem to care. She just looked like it was Christmas or something. Axel was grinning too. When I asked why, he said it was because one of his best friends in the world was happy, so he was happy too. I joked and asked if she was his girlfriend. He smacked me.<br/>~Magnus'</em>
</p><p>Jesse smirked at that.</p><p>She heard a tick, and she looked up to see Axel toggling a button. Minecarts moved forwards, going around a bend and coming to a stop in front of some redstone tracks, in front of a very long, very empty tunnel.</p><p>"Huh," Jesse said, humming at the carts.</p><p>Soren clambered down from the platform, down the Golem ladder, as Jesse stood up and slid the journal back into her pocket. "I think I have enough gunpowder now," Jesse told him.</p><p>"Glad to hear it," Soren grinned at her, "oh, and, Jesse, I am sorry for not keeping this place as organized as I should. It's very embarrassing." He reached into his pocket and held a block out. "And this is my Super TNT." Jesse looked at the block admiringly. It glowed faintly, with a shimmering aura that was the only thing that said it was different from any other old TNT.</p><p>"Ooh," Axel said admiringly, coming over. "Can I touch it?"</p><p>"No, Axel," Olivia said, looking faintly amusedly at him, "all of us would die if you or Magnus came within three feet of it."</p><p>Axel snickered a bit at that.</p><p>"Isn't Super TNT the Formidi-Bomb?" asked Petra, questioningly. Her voice was still scratchy, but she did look curious, a huge deviation from the listless Petra from before.</p><p>"Of course not!" Soren exclaimed, "they're two completely different words, aren't they?"</p><p>None of them really had a good response to that.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0046"><h2>46. Flee</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, then, what is Super TNT, exactly?"</p>
<p>"Well, it's just another one of my... marvelous Impossible Objects."</p>
<p>Jesse arched her eyebrow, then pointed at it while still looking at Soren. "If it's impossible, how'd you make it in the first place?"</p>
<p>Axel scratched his head. "I feel like you're more sarcastic nowadays, Jesse."</p>
<p>Jesse glanced at Petra, "I used to not be. Then I learned from the master."</p>
<p>Petra snickered a little at that.</p>
<p>"Remember, Jesse. I killed the Ender Dragon," Soren responded, his lips twitching at the banter as if he were trying not to laugh, "I do impossible things everyday."</p>
<p>Jesse held out some of the gunpowder, arching her eyebrows. "So, do we just combine it with the gunpowder?" she asked, waving it a bit.</p>
<p>"Well, the crafting recipe is quite simple, really. Super TNT in the middle, and gunpowder all around," Soren gestured slightly at the TNT, being careful not to wave the arm holding the Super TNT too much.</p>
<p>Jesse smiled and reached out for the TNT. "Got it!" she nodded.</p>
<p>Soren jumped out of reach, a panicked look on his face. "No! No no no! The ingredients are <em>highly</em> unstable. Even putting them in close proximity to each other is a risk."</p>
<p>"Oh, okay..." Jesse stepped back and put the gunpowder in her pocket again. She really didn't want something so volatile and dangerous exploding in such a small space. "Well, w-we may not have the Formidi-Bomb yet, but at least we have the ingredients to build one. Progress!"</p>
<p>"I feel like doing jazz hands when we say that. Like, 'progress'!" And Lukas did said jazz hands.</p>
<p>Jesse rolled her eyes with a giggle at that, and Petra shook her head. "Lukas, you are a dork," she declared, playfully, even though she still sounded sick. Everyone grinned at that.</p>
<p>Lukas acted affronted. "Hey!"</p>
<p>Before Soren could say anything more, an Enderman abruptly appeared in the other room, and Jesse slapped her hands over her eyes instinctively with a hiss. Everyone took to looking out of the corners of their eyes, except Olivia, who just stared back, trying not to make direct eye contact with the monster.</p>
<p>Soren tsked softly. "Oh. Oh dear. I was afraid of this. With the End underwater, the Endermen will try to escape."</p>
<p>"Could've mentioned that before!" Lukas eked out.</p>
<p>"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Jesse squeaked, looking from Soren to the Endermen. "I doubt that we're going to be able to outrun them- they can teleport for Notch's sake!"</p>
<p>Soren stared at the wall, his brow creasing as he thought. Something Jesse had said must've triggered it somehow. "Of course..." And his eyes widened. "Of course! To the minecarts, everyone!" and he pointed at the minecarts that Axel had brought out only minutes before, rather dramatically.</p>
<p>Everyone ran straight for the minecarts, more and more and <em>more</em> Endermen teleporting into the room. Despite that, Soren had a big grin on his face. "I've been waiting ages to say that..." he glanced at Jesse and Lukas. "To people, I mean."</p>
<p>Lukas nearly faceplanted at that.</p>
<p>Everyone lunged into the minecarts, which were not connected for some reason, Reuben somehow being first, then Jesse, Olivia teleporting in, Lukas lunging in, Axel rushing in and nearly landing in the cart headfirst, Petra gliding in with an exhausted look on her face, and Soren hopping in the last one.</p>
<p>The carts started to move slowly from all of them jumping in, as more and more Endermen appeared in the room.</p>
<p>Reuben looked down at the redstone-activated, glowing tracks, and the wheels inched forward.</p>
<p>He was zooming forward the next second. Jesse's hands- all six of them- tightened on the minecart rim.</p>
<p>The moment the wheels touched the red tracks, Jesse found the cart rolling forward rapidly, almost falling out backwards as the cart practically flew across the tracks.</p>
<p>Actually, had she not tightened her hands on the rim, she would've fallen out backwards. Which would've hurt quite a lot.</p>
<p>The walls started closing behind the carts as they all started zooming away. Just before the walls slammed shut, leaving almost no light in the tunnel, a loud, Enderman screech rang out in the air, before the sound of the walls slamming closed sounded, and the whole tunnel fell silent except for the sound of the minecarts rushing along the tracks.</p>
<p>"That was close," Petra breathed, hands tight on the cart rims. Jesse looked back to see that her knuckles were white.</p>
<p>"Now, all we gotta do is find a way to get the bomb into the Witherstorm," Lukas agreed, "shouldn't be- too hard, right?"</p>
<p>"It's not a picky eater," Olivia agreed, "we could just stick it in the tractor beam and it'll eat it itself. And then... boom! Bye bye, Witherstorm."</p>
<p>"INCOMING!"</p>
<p>Everyone turned to see what in the world Axel meant. The sun was setting, and there was a creeper and two spiders on the tracks.</p>
<p>Reuben covered his eyes with his hooves, right as the carts slammed into the creeper and catapulted their riders into the air. Jesse momentarily felt weightless as she did a slow, lazy flip in the air, before slamming onto her back, bouncing, and landing again, breathing heavily as she stared at the darkening sky.</p>
<p>A spider scurried past her. Then a creeper. And then more mobs. Jesse blinked as she watched the monsters... running away?</p>
<p>"There you are!" Jesse felt hope twitch in her chest, and she turned to see the brunette redstone engineer holding a stone sword, the rogue standing next to her also with a stone sword.</p>
<p>Magnus grinned at them. "So glad you could make it!"</p>
<p>Jesse drew her own sword as everyone ran towards the two of them, Axel literally lifting Magnus off the ground in a hug and Olivia bleeping over to hug her own mentor tightly. Grins and laughs were exchanged, and Jesse watched, eyes softening. "I'm glad you're okay!" she told them, relieved. "I thought Ivor was coming to get you!"</p>
<p>Ellegaard blinked. "Ivor? We haven't even seen him!"</p>
<p>They backed away from the monsters swarming in their direction, before Soren spoke, making everyone look at him.</p>
<p>"You don't have to worry about the monsters. They're running away." Soren raised an arm and pointed, his face ashen with fear. "Worry about what they're running away from."</p>
<p>Jesse turned, holding her breath.</p>
<p>There it was.</p>
<p>The Witherstorm.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0047"><h2>47. The Formidi-Bomb</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I feel like it got bigger," Axel said, staring.</p><p>Olivia nodded, mouth hanging open slightly. "It must be like the Great Devourer in that cartoon Jesse used to like to watch- the more it eats, the bigger it gets. And so far, it's not really a picky eater."</p><p>"Soren?" Ellegaard asked softly. The two Order members put their swords away, as they walked towards Soren.</p><p>"It's him!" Magnus said, staring, "i-it's you!"</p><p>Soren stepped forward, hesitantly, giving the two of them a shy, worried smile. "Hello, old friends."</p><p>Before anything else could be said, an ear-shattering roar rang through the air, everyone clamping their hands over their ears until it abated. "It's time to go," Soren said, more urgently, "we only get one shot at this. Remember, once the Formidi-Bomb is crafted, it'll explode in a matter of seconds."</p><p>A pause as the information sank in, before Soren continued, in a smaller voice, "it means whoever is doing the crafting... will be in great danger. I was hoping... perhaps we could draw straws?"</p><p>Everyone looked at each other silently (well, as silent as it could in the chaos), not wanting to outright say no, but not wanting to go either. Everyone looked at the two Order members besides Soren, who were shuffling their feet and being quiet and not saying anything.</p><p>"I never wanted to be a hero."</p><p>Everyone's eyes snapped over to Jesse, whose arms were all crossed. All of them. "I never wanted to be a hero," she repeated, "but I'm willing to do the heroic thing." She closed her eyes, bracing herself, before turning to Soren, eyes hard. "I'm going to set off the Formidi-Bomb."</p><p>"Jesse!" Axel burst out at that, "You- you could die!"</p><p>When Jesse met his eyes she gave a sad little smile. "I know. I'm not all that excited about it. But I've got to do this."</p><p>Axel opened his mouth to protest, as Soren came over to her. For a moment, he looked as though he were going to try to talk her out of it, even opening his mouth. Jesse cut him off. "Soren, I've made up my mind. You're just going to make something that's already hard for me even harder. Just give me the TNT." And she held out her hand, waiting.</p><p>Soren stood there for a few moments more, mouth open, before he shut it and silently gave it to her. "We'll... the rest of is... we'll build distractions in its path. Hopefully it will buy you some time."</p><p>Petra coughed a bit, giving the two Order members a glare. "You should be ashamed of yourselves."</p><p>The two of them looked at the ground, before Ellegaard looked up and stepped towards Jesse. "Jesse, take my armor. It'll help."</p><p>Everyone's eyes widened as the two females stood there. But not one to be upped by Ellie, Magnus darted forward. "Nah, you can take mine. It's gotten me out of a lot of jams."</p><p>"I insist," Ellegaard said, brown eyes meeting green and red.</p><p>"I double insist."</p><p>"I triple insist."</p><p>"I... insist four times."</p><p>"Quadruple."</p><p>"Know it all."</p><p>"You say that as if it's a bad thing."</p><p>Jesse put up a hand, cutting both of them off, before stepping down and standing in front of Ellegaard, giving her a worried look.</p><p>"Jesse, you deserve this. What you're doing means we're ALL GONNA DIE!"</p><p>Jesse jumped a bit as Ellegaard's head snapped up, before whirling around. The Witherstorm was practically in front of them now, and they all ran away a bit, Ellegaard yanking off her armor and tossing the pieces to Jesse. She wore a sort of suit underneath, a plain brown suit that was actually pretty nice looking.</p><p>Jesse threw on the chestplate, the pants (oh... wow, that sounded so wrong), the boots, and jammed the helmet on her head in record time. If there was a trophy for 'shortest time for putting on armor with four extra limbs', Jesse would've won it in a heartbeat. As it was, Jesse had to hug her ribs again and squeeze. Good thing Ellegaard was a bit larger-proportioned than the slight, small girl, otherwise it would've gotten <em>incredibly</em> uncomfortable.</p><p>"Jesse, you're going to have to set down a crafting table out there and make that Formidi-Bomb!" Soren said urgently, "everyone else, grab a buddy and split up, we need to keep that Witherstorm on track, so build, build, build!"</p><p>Olivia groaned. "Oh god, she actually has to put down a table?!"</p><p>"Less talking, more making sure none of us die!" Jesse yelled, rushing straight towards the storm and juggling a crafting table.</p><p>"Jesse, don't forget!" Soren added, "Super TNT in the middle, gunpowder all around!"</p><p>Jesse lunged out of the way of a tentacle as it smashed some trees out of the ground, roots tearing, leaves flying, and sent it flying who knows how far.</p><p>Jesse was back on her feet in an instant, running as fast as her legs would allow towards the Witherstorm, before stopping underneath it, looking up at the ginormous cloud-like monster. "Ohh, I hope this works."</p><p>She didn't have time to look back at her friends, who she hoped with all of her might were okay. She slammed a crafting table onto the ground, dropping the Super TNT in the middle, and began to put gunpowder down around the Super TNT piece by piece, so fast that she was surprised she wasn't scattering everything all over the floor.</p><p>Just as she placed the last one, another roar rang through the air, and an indigo glow covered Jesse, the crafting table, and the crafting ingredients, lifting the girl into the air.</p><p>"Not good!" Jesse screamed as gravity seemed to abandon her, the Super TNT and gunpowder having started shaking, but moments later pieces floating away from each other. "Not yet!" Jesse cried out at the Witherstorm, "not yet!"</p><p>Jesse looked around, before swimming forward through the air and snagging one piece of gunpowder. "Okay, okay, got it..." She swam for another one, fingers brushing it towards her. As soon as she did that, she dodged sideways as a tree floated lazily past her, watching as she got so dangerously, <em>insanely</em> close to the monster's mouth that she could practically smell it- surprisingly, it smelled like burned cake and rubber. Not a good combination.</p><p>Jesse got a piece of gunpowder, before snagging the Super TNT, looking from the bomb to the gunpowder. "Oh, please, please, PLEASE don't blow up."</p><p>Jesse swam down to the crafting table, a little below her, spotting the others finishing up what looked like a Reuben with sunglasses, as a tentacle came flying at them. "LOOK OUT!" she screamed.</p><p>The tentacle smacked into Ellegaard and Magnus, the two of them going flying, Magnus smacking into the statue but Ellegaard flying at a tree- Jesse screamed again-</p><p>Everything seemed to go in slow motion all of a sudden, as Olivia bleeped into sight behind her, caught the redstone engineer, and started flying backwards from the impact-</p><p>Olivia bleeped out of sight and landed several feet away, the two girls, Olivia noticeably taller than the engineer, hitting the ground and rolling several feet before stopping, both of them slowly moving.</p><p>Jesse turned back to the Witherstorm, mere FEET from the Witherstorm's mouth, eyes both blazing red in fury. Jesse moved more quickly than she'd EVER moved in her life, setting down the TNT and the gunpowder, and the ingredients shook before condensing with a loud 'pow'. It was shaped like a normal TNT block, but it was a dark purple-gray rather than bright red, and a glowing, shimmering F on each side. Simply crafting it had demolished the table, which floated by in several pieces.</p><p>Jesse took about half a second to admire it, before grabbing it and turning around to face the Witherstorm. "Hey, eat this!" she shouted, shoving it as hard as she could.</p><p>The Formidi-Bomb floated lazily towards the beast's mouth, when suddenly she felt something snag on the back of her armor. She turned to see Axel, Lukas, Petra, Olivia, Magnus, Ellegaard, and Soren clinging to a fishing rod, the same one Olivia had taken from the loot room. Reuben was jumping up and down, and even though Ellegaard seemed to be favoring one leg more than the other, she was okay. She was okay!</p><p>Jesse let out a loud cheer as they began to reel her back, away from the huge monster, as the Witherstorm's middle head opened its mouth to grant the Formidi-Bomb entry.</p><p>Just as the jaw closed over the bomb, a massive flash of white blinded Jesse, a huge blast of light and heat that sent Jesse flying backwards towards the ground.</p><p>For a moment, gravity was gone, and everything was so white that Jesse could see nothing but the white-</p><p>Then her back slammed into the ground, her breath huffed out of her lungs, and Jesse blacked out.</p><p>With only one last thought before her conscious faded.</p><p>
  <em>Is it over?</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0048"><h2>48. It's ALIVE!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ringing.</p><p>That was the first sound Jesse registered. Ringing.</p><p>She opened her eyes, pushing herself up as she pulled off the helmet, which toppled with a soft thud onto the ground next to her, blinking slowly. Axel, Olivia, and Lukas were kneeling in front of her, staring at her with concerned looks.</p><p>Axel's mouth moved, but Jesse could only hear ringing.</p><p>A black tentacle hit the ground with a muffled thud, Lukas turning and looking at Axel as his mouth moved in answer to something Axel said. Another thud, and the top part of the Witherstorm struck the ground, the head bouncing up and down a second, purple eye dark and mouth hanging open.</p><p>"Is that it?" Axel's voice slowly came into focus, the ringing coming to a stop, "is it over?"</p><p>Jesse got to her feet, friends following her lead, as she unfurled and pulled off the chestplate- her arms felt really sore. As she gave them a stretch, she looked around at the wreckage. Trees were on fire, but a part of the Witherstorm's rib cage was showing, purple guts splattered across the ground and giving off a smell that reeked of burnt cake and rubber, and the body was sitting in the middle of what looked like a rather large crater.</p><p>"I can't believe it... I can't believe it's actually dead," Olivia gasped, staring at the thing.</p><p>Lukas let out a relieved laugh, whipping to his friend, "You <em>did</em> it, Jesse! You actually <em>did</em> it!"</p><p>Magnus also laughed, more boisterously, "handled like a champ!"</p><p>Ellegaard smiled weakly at Jesse, still favoring one side. "Good... good work, Jesse- ow," and she hissed a little as she quickly wobbled back into place.</p><p>Jesse frowned at Ellegaard's leg. It looked a bit odd. "Did you hurt your leg?"</p><p>Ellegaard shook her head, a small smile forming on her face as she tried to keep the hurt out of her eyes. "Nothing... nothing time can't heal."</p><p>The words were barely out of her mouth when the rogue whirled and threw his arms around the redstone engineer, sending the both of them to the ground. "You're okay!"</p><p>Ellegaard blinked at Magnus. "Magnus?"</p><p>"You- well- for a second there... thought you were dead," and Magnus let go and looked at Ellegaard with a look that really couldn't be identified. "I... well... I'm glad you're okay, Ellie."</p><p>Ellegaard opened her mouth, hesitated, and then shut it with a small smile on her face. "Thanks, Magnus."</p><p>"Ellegaard and Magnus. Who knew?" Lukas responded to thin air.</p><p>"About time we got a real win," Axel's grin was practically splitting his face open. Reuben came running up to Jesse, butting against her legs insistently. Jesse grinned and set down the chestplate, which Magnus went to grab and return to the engineer, and leaned down to pat his head, "thanks, bud."</p><p>Jesse looked up at her friends, a warm, happy smile settling over her face. "Thank you all- for saving my life back there."</p><p>"You would've done the same for us," and Lukas came and wrapped her in a hug, and then Olivia joined, and Axel put his arms around them all, and for a moment the four friends- Jesse spotted Petra sitting down on the ground with Soren checking up on her quickly- stayed there, arms around each other, intertwined in a hug that couldn't have been broken in a million years.</p><p>Well, until someone gasped.</p><p>Jesse released them, to see Ellegaard, who was still on the ground, gaping at something behind them. Jesse glanced over her shoulder, eyes widening.</p><p>People were wandering away from the Witherstorm's giant, violently demolished corpse. They staggered, some crawled, some looked as though they were confused, some looked lost, and some looked shocked. But they were alive.</p><p>They were all alive.</p><p>"All those people- they're alive!" A happy laugh floated out of Jesse's mouth, and she turned back to everyone, "we've got to go help them!" Jesse turned back to her friends and the two Order members. "Everyone, go help the survivors. I'll go find the people who might be trapped."</p><p>With an affirmative nod, everyone split up, Ellegaard getting to her feet with Magnus's help and limping over to check up on Petra.</p><p>Jesse and Reuben dashed towards the carcass, dodging around a giant, limp tentacle that draped over the ground. Jesse ran over to a man who was trapped under a tentacle, heaving it off him, and helping him to his feet. "Get to safety. There are people over there who can help you," she said softly, looking at him with concerned eyes.</p><p>The survivor's eyes roved over her six limbs and her red eye, but he nodded. "Thank... thank you. Thank you," and he began to limp after the others.</p><p>Jesse hopped down into the crater, Reuben leading her to another survivor. Jesse hopped after him, rushing over to the survivor and helping him up as well. "You're going to be okay, I promise," she said, earnestly.</p><p>This man also looked over her extra arms, but he nodded shakily. "I... thank you."</p><p>Jesse found another survivor, shoving a tentacle off of him and leaning down to lift the survivor up, "Don't worry. It's... it's all over now. My friends and I are gonna help you."</p><p>The survivor put a hand to their head. "I hope you're right... th-thank you."</p><p>Jesse made her way deeper into the carcass, covering her nose at the smell. Jesse slowly walked through, looking around and searching for survivors, before turning a corner. Her eyes widening. "No."</p><p>Right in front of her, sitting on a lump of flesh and bone and blood as if it were some sort of pedestal, was the Command Block, not sporting a single crack or scratch. It looked... immaculate.</p><p>"No," Jesse repeated, hugging her elbows and stepping backwards. "No! Th-the Command Block... th-that's impossible!"</p><p>Reuben let out a squeal in agreement.</p><p>"I- I don't understand," Jesse gaped at the block, "Soren said the Formidi-Bomb would destroy it but it looks... fine."</p><p>The Command Block suddenly flickered to life, sparkles of pink, green, yellow, colors of the rainbow began to sparkle to life. "Guys! Over he-!"</p><p>Jesse was cut off as an invisible force caught her, the sparkles circling her and pulling her closer and closer to the Command Block, as if it were a tractor beam. Reuben let out a loud squeal, as Jesse thrashed to break free. "No!" she screamed, firing a string, but there was something so... <em>hypnotizing</em> about the sparkles. The way they danced through the air...</p><p>The string bounced harmlessly off the ground. It wasn't sticky.</p><p>"No," Jesse said, but more dreamily this time, her bright green and red eyes dulling as she tried again, with no success. She didn't care about it this time. "No... somebody... help..."</p><p>Jesse had stopped thrashing, when a hand closed on her wrist.</p><p>Jesse shook herself out of it, thrashing her head wildly to clear it, before looking up, a gasp escaping her mouth as she realized who it was.</p><p>Gabriel.</p><p>Gabriel!</p><p>Gabriel's eyes were a rather odd shade of dull red, but he was pulling Jesse away from the Command Block, and Jesse tightened her hands on Gabriel's and kicked furiously, escaping the stream of sparkles and sending them both to the ground.</p><p>"I thought you were dead!" Jesse blurted, staring at the warrior, "I- I <em>saw</em> you-"</p><p>Gabriel put a hand to his head, Jesse scrambling to help him up even as his eyes drifted aimlessly over Jesse's extra arms, over her worried face. "I... what... what happened here?"</p><p>The ground shook, a strange sound coming from the Command Block. "I'll explain anything, just not right now!" Jesse shouted, panic rising into her voice, as something caught the corner of her eye.</p><p>The head moved. Impossibly, the ribs shifted and moved to fix itself again, the sky darkened, and a large rumbling growl rang in the air, a growl that meant certain doom.</p><p>A growl that meant the Witherstorm was alive.</p><p>Jesse shook her head in disbelief. "That was all... Ellegaard got hurt for nothing... that was all for nothing..." she whispered, the words falling from her lips like stones, heavy and hard and dull.</p><p>Jesse began to back away, horror in her expression, as the monstrosity rose. And then, to the right of it, another head with another body appeared, smaller than the one Jesse was facing, and on the left, the third head rose into the air with its own body to boot. Blocks began to swirl around it in a hurricane, putting the mangled flesh and damaged guts back together, fixing the Witherstorms as if nothing had ever happened to them.</p><p>People ran away, screaming, as Jesse stared in complete horror as THREE different Witherstorms rose into the sky, indigo tractor beams switching on from each eye. It was Endercon all over again... only worse.</p><p>"We... we only made it worse... oh Notch, there's <em>three</em> of them," Jesse put a quaking hand to her mouth, all of her limbs shaking like leaves as she tried to steady herself but failed. "Oh <em>Notch...</em>"</p><p>She looked to Gabriel. "Come on, we have to get out of here!" she cried out.</p><p>Jesse and Reuben began sprinting away, before realizing Gabriel wasn't following. Jesse stopped and ran back a couple steps, panic in her eyes. "Gabriel, let's go!" she screamed, fear tearing through her, a fear that Jesse had never experienced before, not this mind-numbing, horrific sensation that made every part of her body tingle with this electricity.</p><p>Gabriel turned to Jesse slowly, dull red eyes and face filled with fear and concern and uncertainty.</p><p>What he said next made Jesse's heart skip a beat. Or two. Or maybe three.</p><p>"Who's Gabriel?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0049"><h2>49. Panic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse could only stare.</p><p>The warrior stood there, looking terrified and bewildered. "Where- where am I?" he asked, "what's going on? What is all of this? And what's that awful smell?"</p><p>Jesse shook her head. "Are you okay?" she finally managed. She didn't know what else to say.</p><p>Frankly, she didn't know what else she COULD say.</p><p>Gabriel gave her a long look. "I... I have no idea. Who are you?" And he backed away a step.</p><p>"Jesse! Jesse, where are you?!"</p><p>Jesse's head snapped around at the desperate scream, seeing the burly male looking around frantically through the flying debris, covering his head as he searched for the female. "Say something, Jesse!"</p><p>"AXEL!" Jesse screamed at the top of her lungs, pushing the sound out as loud as it could get, grabbing Gabriel's hand and practically flying across the ground towards him. "WE NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!"</p><p>Axel's head snapped towards her, and he charged. "Then help is on the way!"</p><p>Jesse grabbed Gabriel in a one-armed hug, Reuben hopping into the warrior's hands, as Jesse fired a shot of string and then jerked them to the top, tossing Gabriel over the edge so he didn't get a mouthful of dirt. Axel skidded to a stop in front of them and stared at Gabriel with wide eyes. "No way! You found Gabriel?"</p><p>Gabriel frowned, confused. "Who's Gabriel?"</p><p>Jesse glanced at the Witherstorms, feeling her stomach sink like a stone in water as she saw that there were <em>two new heads</em> on each body. Now there were NINE tractor beams flying everywhere.</p><p>"We have to get out of here!" Jesse cried, spinning back to Axel.</p><p>Axel nodded and turned around, "Come on!" They all took off at a sprint, Reuben galloping along the best he could until Jesse scooped up the little pink pig, plopped him onto her back, and dropped to all eights, scuttling across the ground at a speed that no human could've ever achieved.</p><p>Jesse lunged after Axel to a large mound of dirt and stone, everyone skidding to a halt behind the makeshift wall. "Jesse, you made it!" the curly-haired Enderman hybrid practically jumped on her friend in relief, Jesse quickly switching Reuben around so she had the pig in a hug.</p><p>"And..." Lukas's eyes widened. "Gabriel?"</p><p>Petra looked up. "Did you say Gabriel?"</p><p>An indigo light shone down on them, making them all yell and sprint away, running away from the three Witherstorms.</p><p>Abruptly, an Enderman appeared right in front of Jesse, blinking into existence. Jesse put on the brakes, skidding to a stop so close to the Enderman that she could smell it's rotted cake stink.</p><p>The Enderman didn't acknowledge her at all, just walked calmly past her towards the Witherstorm. Jesse blinked, before deciding not to press her luck and running after her friends.</p><p>"What's up with these Endermen?!" Jesse shouted to Soren, who was staring at the Endermen. "I have absolutely no idea. Those Endermen are running the wrong way. They'll be killed!"</p><p>Lukas came back over, not able to stop in time and plowing him, Jesse, and Reuben to the floor. "Soren?!" he cried out, desperately disentangling himself from the pile of limbs.</p><p>"I can't just stand by and watch. I'd be condemning them to death!"</p><p>"They'll be fine!" Jesse assured him, even though she really was not at all sure about this, "they can just teleport away!"</p><p>Soren opened his mouth to protest, but he then closed it.</p><p>A fireball hit the tree they'd been under. Letting out startled screams, the three of them took off like rockets. Horses ran next to them, as well as monsters. In that one moment, monsters, humans, and other mobs alike all had the same objective: to escape the Witherstorm.</p><p>"Jesse, wait!" Jesse skidded to a stop and looked at Lukas, who pointed. "They're falling behind!"</p><p>Sure enough, Axel was trying to help Petra along, but he could only run so fast while frost was creeping up your back without dropping someone off your back. Rain was starting to come down now, but really all it was doing was slowing Axel down.</p><p>Jesse bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood, and Lukas shook his head in dismay. "There's no way we can make it, not on foot!"</p><p>Jesse looked around, and then grabbed one of the horse's reins. "Give the horses to Ellegaard, Magnus, Soren, Gabriel and Petra," she instructed Lukas as fast as she could without blurring her words together, "the rest of us will just have to make do without 'em!"</p><p>Lukas was nodding almost before she finished speaking. "Got it!" And he yelled to them, "Ellegaard, Magnus, Soren, Gabriel, Petra, get a horse! C'mon!"</p><p>They all ran over to the horses, Jesse catching four of the reins with her extra arms, yanking the fleeing horses to a halt. "Whoa there," she grunted, as her feet skidded over quickly-becoming muddy ground.</p><p>Lukas helped Petra onto a horse, the saddle and the horse armor hopefully being enough to keep the horse from freezing into an ice cube.</p><p>Jesse helped Ellegaard onto a horse as well, the other Order members practically launching themselves onto their horses in an effort to speed up.</p><p>Jesse looked up at Gabriel, who stared at her with a bewildered look. "Hang on- this... may be a rather bumpy ride." And then she shot a strand of not-sticky string, and flicked it in the air, making a loud whipcrack sound.</p><p>The horses reared up in shock, before galloping away, Gabriel letting out a loud yell and tightening his arms around the neck of his horse as it took off, Jesse dropping to all eights and scuttling across the ground rapidly. Petra was clinging to the reins as tightly as she could. Lukas was running as fast as an ocelot could, which was pretty darn fast, tail flapping in the wind. Olivia teleported around, occasionally next to one of them for a moment, before ahead to check if the way remained clear. Axel was running at full tilt, hugging Reuben to his chest as he took off.</p><p>"Whoo-hoo! This is awesome!" Magnus cheered. Ellegaard, who was riding next to him, shot him a glare. "How is this awesome?!"</p><p>Jesse whipped around a spider jockey, ignoring it as best as she could.</p><p>"We're not going to make it!"</p><p>Jesse glanced at Gabriel as the Witherstorms got ever closer. "Yes we are! Just- keep it together, Gabriel!" she called out to him, tearing across the ground at breakneck speed.</p><p>"That monster is chasing me!" Gabriel cried out.</p><p>"It's chasing all of us!" Jesse yelled back, feeling the journal and the amulet bounce around in her back pocket.</p><p>Tractor beams sucked up the dirt in front of them, Gabriel letting out a shout as the tractor beam ripped a section of the ground out from in front of Jesse. "Watch out!"</p><p>Jesse tensed her muscles, before launching herself forward. Her entire body dropped, before her hands slapped onto the edge and she scrambled up, feet slipping and sliding on the dirt as she scrabbled to get a good foothold.</p><p>"Don't let it come any closer!" Gabriel cried out, hugging his horse neck. Jesse felt pretty bad for him. All Gabriel really knew was that they were running from a giant monster. He didn't even know his own name.</p><p>"I'll try!" Jesse yelled back.</p><p>Olivia teleported in front of an Enderman, just as a tractor beam fell on it. Olivia stumbled back as the Enderman let out a screech of rage and then teleported out of sight. Olivia blinked, before throwing herself to the right and teleporting away as a tentacle came slamming down on top of where she'd been only seconds before.</p><p>Jesse dodged as tentacles stabbed the ground around her, some missing her by a hair and some actually cutting off little chunks of her hair.</p><p>"That was close," Jesse mumbled to herself.</p><p>Seconds later, a skull plowed into the ground in front of her, leaving a gaping crater, and Jesse instinctively jumped, barely clearing the jump and nearly falling in.</p><p>"HO-kay, never mind, THAT was close!" Jesse shrieked, double-timing it across the ground. They all tore towards a bridge that crossed a chasm. "There! We just need to get over that-"</p><p>A flaming skull demolished the bridge, several people coming to a screeching halt to avoid falling into the chasm and Gabriel nearly falling off of his horse, all of them gaping at the space where the bridge had previously been in dismay.</p><p>"-bridge," Jesse sighed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0050"><h2>50. Safe (for Now)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>More and more Endermen appeared around them as they stared at the spot where the bridge had just been, Jesse shying back and Gabriel barely able to keep his horse steady.</p><p>"Jesse, look out!" Lukas shouted.</p><p>A tractor beam fell on the one Jesse was having a staring contest with, and its head snapped upward to look at the monster, screeching before it disappeared.</p><p>Jesse looked up, and her mouth fell open as the Enderman ripped off the Witherstorm's tentacle, making it screech in pain.</p><p>"The Endermen!" Soren exclaimed, astonished, "they're slowing it down!"</p><p>Olivia screeched at one of the Endermen, which looked at Olivia, nodded, and then let out a furious screech as it went up to attack the Witherstorm.</p><p>"What'd you just say?" Axel asked, curiously.</p><p>Olivia shot him a quick, worried smile. "Thank you," she told him.</p><p>"What for?"</p><p>Olivia rolled her eyes, looking faintly amused at that. "No, no, that's what I told the Endermen."</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>"Are we seeing Endermen attacking a Witherstorm?" Petra asked, slowly, staring up at the monsters in stunned shock.</p><p>"Endermen move blocks," Soren said slowly, gaping at the Witherstorms as they thrashed and roared in agony. "It's what they do.</p><p>Jesse shook her head. "What in the world are we waiting for?" She grumbled, darting forward. String fired from her hands, and they moved as fast as Jesse had ever made them go, as she lunged and darted back and forth. By the time the others had managed to tear their eyes from the Witherstorm, Jesse was weaving her makeshift rope bridge firmer and tighter than before, white silk pouring from her hands. Good thing most of it wasn't sticky.</p><p>Olivia tentatively tapped it with her toe. "Will it hold everyone?" she called down to Jesse, who was still weaving.</p><p>Jesse expertly swung herself up onto the other side, looking at it, scrutinizing her handiwork. For something that she'd rushed and managed to complete in a little over thirty seconds, it wasn't terribly bad. "It should serve our purposes," she said, finally. "But just in case, horses go first."</p><p>Gabriel was the first to gallop over, then Olivia teleported, and then the Order galloped over as well, thundering past Jesse, who stayed behind in case someone fell. Axel bolted over, still holding Reuben, and Lukas tore over the bridge like a lightning bolt, tail bushy with fear. The moment he was clear, Jesse turned and kept running as well.</p><p>The Witherstorm let out a frustrated roar as the Endermen kept trying to tear it apart, everyone fleeing out of reach of the storm.</p><p>For now, at least, they were all alive.</p><hr/><p>Snow was starting to rain down from the sky, but everyone had managed to find a small cave and was getting off, and for a moment, the only sound was panting.</p><p>"We made it," and Jesse let out a disbelieving laugh. "We actually... we actually MADE it."</p><p>"Jesse... I'm worried about Gabriel," Petra said, walking over to Jesse. Jesse actually turned to Petra, eyes widening. The redhead's hair was limp and dead-looking, as if it hadn't been washed for years. Her face was gray, her skin was gray, every part of her was gray except for the ever-spreading purple mark on her arm. "If he was inside the Witherstorm... he might have Wither Sickness, like me."</p><p>Jesse gave Gabriel a look, before frowning and shaking her head a little. "I'm not sure. You've never acted the way he's been acting. Vice versa."</p><p>Jesse turned and walked over to Gabriel, concern showing in her eyes as she gave him an encouraging little smile. "Hey, you okay?"</p><p>"I'm... afraid I don't feel much like myself at the moment," Gabriel said, looking at her with a puzzled look.</p><p>"I'm sure you don't," Jesse said, softly, feeling a strange pressure behind her eyes.</p><p>Before anything else could be said, a voice cut through the air. "Gabriel! It really is you!"</p><p>They turned to see Soren, Magnus, and Ellegaard walking towards them, Ellegaard supporting herself on Magnus to keep the weight off of her leg. Jesse sighed and knelt down, pulling out some silk and wrapping it around Ellegaard's ankle, making the brunette wince as the two of them paused where they were, the four Order members standing in a little triangle.</p><p>"They told us you'd kicked it!" Magnus added, grinning.</p><p>Gabriel stepped back a step, looking a bit frightened. "I... what... who are you people?"</p><p>"It's me, Magnus!" Magnus's grin faded when Gabriel continued looking bewildered.</p><p>"Don't..." Ellegaard's breath hitched, although whether it was from the pain of Jesse binding her ankle or the pain of Gabriel, one of her friends, not being able to recognize her, no one could tell. "Don't you recognize us?"</p><p>"It's Soren," Soren spoke softly, eyes flicking over Gabriel, who was standing a good distance away from them, looking wary, "we've..." He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something else, before saying, so softly that Jesse could barely hear it, "we've known each other for a very long time."</p><p>"He-" Jesse felt her breath catch, but she honestly hoped none of the others could tell, "he might still come out of it. Just give him time." She gave the silk one last tug, Ellegaard gave one last wince, before Jesse pushed herself to her feet.</p><p>Gabriel went over to her, eyes wide. "You. You're the one who rescued me."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Y-yeah.."</p><p>"Please, tell me- what's going on?"</p><p>Jesse froze there, unsure how to put things. Gabriel continued, cupping his elbows in his hands. "I- there was only... darkness. And then... I saw you. I think I saved you. And then- and then we were galloping..."</p><p>The three Order members came up, flanking Jesse, staring at their friend with sad eyes.</p><p>Jesse felt as if someone had just punched her in the gut.</p><p>"... you were in the Witherstorm for..." Jesse had to think about that. "For a few days." It had only been two or three DAYS since Endercon. Days!</p><p>Jesse felt as though it had been centuries.</p><p>"Trapped," she finished.</p><p>"That was long enough to do this to me?" Gabriel asked, staring at Jesse puzzledly with blank red eyes.</p><p>Jesse swallowed again. "Yes."</p><p>Gabriel looked at the floor. "... it felt like an eternity. It was dark, it was foul, and I thought I was going to die," he said, not taking his eyes off the floor, as if it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.</p><p>"Well, you're not," Soren said firmly, reaching out and squeezing his friend's shoulder.</p><p>Jesse stepped back as the Order of the Stone crowded together in a warm hug-like structure. They needed some time.</p><p>They all needed a little time. Especially the hybrids.</p><p>Hybrids.</p><p>Dazedly, Jesse made her way over to Petra and the others.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0051"><h2>51. Tear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse sat down next to Lukas, all of them sitting in silence.</p><p>"Oh my Notch," Lukas said, finally, softly, "I just... we're..." A hollow laugh. "We're hybrids."</p><p>And then, as if he'd just realized it, he said, voice risingly, "oh my <em>Notch</em> we're <em>hybrids!</em>" He practically launched to his feet, blue-green eyes darting everywhere. "We're not even human, holy <em>crap!</em>"</p><p>"We haven't actually... had time to think about it," Jesse said, dazedly. "We never had time. There was always something else more pressing. But now I actually have time to think about it..."</p><p>"I think I'm going crazy," Olivia finished, staring at nothing in particular.</p><p>A hollow laugh from Petra, which deteriorated into a soft cough. "How... how did we not know... for <em>ten years. Ten years.</em> That's a long time to not know you're not even fully human."</p><p>Jesse shook her head. "Wow."</p><p>Axel let out a nervous little laugh. "None of us- we're practically <em>monsters.</em> Literally! Why haven't..." His breath hitched, "why haven't we all freaked out big-time by now?!"</p><p>Jesse shook her head again. "Wow," she repeated. It seemed to be the only thing she could say.</p><p>Olivia hugged herself a bit. "I can't believe it..."</p><p>Lukas shook his head a bit, sitting back down so that he leaned into Jesse. "I- I can't, either. It just seems so... fantastical."</p><p>"It's absurd," Olivia agreed.</p><p>Axel blinked, chest still moving up and down rapidly as he hyperventilated. "Ab-what?" he asked.</p><p>Jesse chuckled faintly, eyes fixed on nothing in particular.</p><p>Olivia took a deep breath, kneading her temples before her shoulders, tense as they were, relaxed. "Okay. I don't know... what... I feel like we've already accepted the fact. We just..." Shake of the head. Hollow laugh. "We just never had the time to freak out about it before."</p><p>"Yeah," Lukas agreed rather breathlessly. "Yeah."</p><p>"I can't believe this," Petra nodded, "I just..." She trailed off, as if not sure what to say.</p><p>Jesse finally tore her eyes away, looking at the muddy boots and bottom half of the armor that Ellegaard had lent her. "I'm just... I'm glad you were all here. I'm glad we're all together," she said finally, regarding the boots.</p><p>"Same," and everyone echoed agreement softly.</p><p>Jesse looked at Petra, who was hunching into herself. "Are... how are you doing?" she asked the redhead, seeming as if she was bracing herself for the answer.</p><p>Petra looked down at her feet. "If I don't move... or breathe... I feel like it's almost bearable. And that's ignoring the cold," she said, hunching down even more.</p><p>Olivia huffed and crossed her arms very long arms. "Man, if Ivor hadn't even created the dumb Wither, Petra wouldn't even be like this right now."</p><p>"That's not entirely true," and that drew all eyes to the redhead, who was leaning against the cave wall with a pained look. "If I didn't bring the Wither Skull to Ivor, he wouldn't have been able to create the Wither in the first place."</p><p>Jesse looked down at her feet, feeling something squeeze in her chest.</p><p>"Jesse, I know this is probably... a bad time..."</p><p>Jesse turned to see Soren, who was approaching her with a strange look in his eye, "But what happened out there?! Why is that thing still alive?"</p><p>Jesse felt the pressure on the back of her eyeballs return, pressing even harder, more insistently than before, as Soren stopped, inches from her. "My instructions were simple! You were the one in the middle of everything, what went wrong?!" his voice was rising, and rising, to the point where he was practically screaming. And Jesse knew it was because of the panic of everything that had just happened, but she still couldn't help it.</p><p>Jesse snapped.</p><p>The yelling, the stress, and the fact that she hadn't slept in a few days added together made a very volatile combination. When those three things were combined together- and that wasn't often- Jesse would either blow up right in your face or break down in tears.</p><p>"I don't <em>know</em> okay?! What I do know is this whole dumb mess is my fault!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, making Soren step back in alarm as the spider hybrid clutched at her hair, looking rather deranged.</p><p>"If I'd convinced Petra not to give the skull to Ivor, if I'd moved faster and taken one back, if I'd convinced Axel not to take that potion, if I'd been able to get Gabriel out, if I'd been faster, if I hadn't taken Ellegaard's armor- if I'd just been <em>better</em> then Petra would be okay, Gabriel wouldn't have amnesia, and Ellegaard wouldn't have gotten hurt <em>at all and NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!</em>" she screamed, so loudly that her voice cracked, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks as every bit of stress and pent up emotion came pouring out of her with the force of a sledgehammer.</p><p>"Oh... Jesse, no!" Olivia- at least, Jesse was fairly certain it was Olivia, through the blurred mess her eyes could barely see through- Olivia appeared in front of her, reaching out to the spider hybrid with an alarmed look, "No, it's not- don't- it's not your fault!"</p><p>"Yes it is!" Jesse sobbed out now, stepping out of reach of Olivia's arms as everyone got up to surround her. "I'm never good enough! I could've done something, but when I did have the chance I didn't take it, and now thousands of people are hurt and this whole thing is a huge mess!"</p><p>Suddenly, the whole cave was stifling. It was too small, too confined, and Jesse began to hyperventilate. Everything was too close, Jesse was too close to everyone else, Jesse was trapped, she was- she had to-</p><p>Whirling on her heel, Jesse tore out into the snowing air, feeling a hand brush against hers at the last second, ignoring the calls of her friends, tearing blindly away through trees and snow, practically blind as she felt tears pour down her cheeks. All she knew was that she had to get out of there, she couldn't stay in there, she just <em>couldn't</em>, not right now-</p><p>Jesse's foot caught on a tree branch, and she pitched forward before slamming into the ground, face-down in the dirt, snow drifting down slowly onto her.</p><p>Slowly, tears began to come, and Jesse felt herself curl up in a little ball as she sobbed, quietly. So much emotion had been repressed over the course of the last two days, and the wall Jesse had been building to keep it back had just smashed.</p><p>She heard some crunching footsteps, but Jesse didn't uncurl herself. She didn't look up from her little ball to see who it was, hugging her knees tightly and trying to stem the flow of tears desperately, but miserably failing.</p><p>A hand settled on her back and began to rub in circles. Jesse slowly felt herself relax as the hand rubbed her back, and her body relaxed a bit, untensing her entire body, which was tenser than a bowstring.</p><p>Then something occurred to her. Back in the lab, no one usually petted her. Usually she was the one petting people (i.e. Lukas) and the people who did try didn't know how she liked to be petted. Except... for one person...</p><p>Jesse opened her eyes and turned her head.</p><p>Kneeling in the thin layer of snow and dirt on the ground, and still patting her on the back, was Ivor.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0052"><h2>52. Explanations and Possibilities</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Ivor?" Jesse sat up, eyes wide, which released more tears down her cheeks. "What are you doing here?"</p><p>Ivor looked at her, his hand pausing. "I.. I have something I need to tell you. I need to tell everyone."</p><p>Jesse gave him an odd look, concern in her eyes as she sat there in the snow.</p><p>"Please."</p><p>Jesse hesitated a moment longer, before she stood up and brushed the snow off her pants, a small, quivery smile forming on her lips. "Sure. C'mon, the cave's back this way."</p><p>Ivor stood up after her, and Jesse was stricken by the fact that they were the same height.</p><p>He suddenly put his arms around her, pulling the spider hybrid into the first hug he'd given her in <em>years</em>.</p><p>Jesse stood there, frozen in place, before she felt hot tears beginning to leak out of her eyes, and she carefully leaned her head into his shoulder, arms snagging around him in a hug as well, the two of them standing there for only a minute or two before they broke apart, Jesse mopping at her tears with a sniffle.</p><p>Ivor gave her a weak smile, and Jesse returned it.</p><p>How strange that the person who'd started the whole mess was also the one who could calm Jesse down.</p><p>Jesse walked back through the snow, Ivor trailing a step or two behind her the whole time, as they walked into the cave. Her friends all looked up, concern and worry in their eyes turning to rage as they spotted who was behind her. Well, except for Gabriel. He just kind of blinked.</p><p>"<em>Ivor?!</em>" Soren growled, launching to his feet as Reuben galloped over to where Jesse was and nudged his head into her leg, making the hybrid lean down and pat him.</p><p>"You need to hear me out! What you all need to understand is that you're in very grave danger," Ivor protested, waving his hands in a 'surrendering/pinwheel' motion.</p><p>Petra let out a bark of angry, sarcastic laughter. "<em>Obviously!</em>"</p><p>"No, no, I mean- this group, specifically! The Witherstorm isn't acting randomly, it's following Gabriel!"</p><p>Gabriel blinked from where he was standing. "It's doing what now?"</p><p>"You see, I... might have programmed it to follow his amulet."</p><p>Silence followed his words. Everyone was staring at Ivor, before their eyes drifted over to Jesse, who's eyes were wide.</p><p>Ivor looked at Jesse, who reached into her back pocket with one of her lower arms and slowly tugged out the amulet, holding it out to him. Every gem in the amulet glowed with a beautiful aura. The Order of the Stone was reunited, for the first time in ten years. The <em>entire</em> Order.</p><p>Ivor's mouth fell open, and his eyes slowly raised from the amulet to Jesse's stunned green and red eyes. "I... I didn't know..."</p><p>"ARGH, Ivor, you- you <em>fool!</em>" Soren practically snarled, throwing his hands into the air with anger. "You've created a monster that's following Jesse! And it's only getting stronger!"</p><p>Ivor glared at Soren, his dark blue eyes filled with fury, "You don't think I know that?! Nothing can stop those things! Nothing even slows them down!"</p><p>"Way to point out the obvious," Lukas hissed, tail flicking with agitation.</p><p>Jesse's brow was furrowing, though, as her arms lowered. "Well... nothing except for Endermen," she said thoughtfully.</p><p>"Endermen?" Ivor looked at Jesse as though she'd sprouted extra limbs- oh, wait.</p><p>"Endermen?" Soren echoed, before his eyes widened. "Of course! Endermen! They could tear the Witherstorm apart! You saw them, the tractor beams travelled over them, and they went wild!"</p><p>Everyone's eyes widened, before Jesse's excited face fell. "Oh... but we're forgetting about something. Soren, when we blew the Witherstorm up, we didn't destroy the Command Block. It was... fine. Not even a dent or scratch on any part of it. It nearly got me," and she shuddered a bit. "So even if the Endermen tore the Witherstorm to little bitty pieces-"</p><p>"They wouldn't be able to destroy the Command Block," and Soren's face had fell, "and nothing can destroy that thing. Not even the Formidi-Bomb. I see your point."</p><p>"Actually, I... may have a solution to that," Ivor spoke, and everyone looked at him abruptly, eyes widening. "When I first took possession of the Command Block-"</p><p>"You mean stole it."</p><p>"Yes, well-" Ivor waved Soren off, "I created a failsafe. A backup plan of sorts, just in case."</p><p>Jesse sighed and waved her arms behind her. "Yes, well, I'd be rather inclined to say 'just in case' in this situation is right now."</p><p>"I'm inclined to agree," Ivor agreed with the spider hybrid.</p><p>"So what is this failsafe?" Soren asked, crossing his arms and scowling at his former friend.</p><p>Ivor began to pace the floor, a thoughtful look entering his dark blue eyes. Jesse'd always liked that look, although sometimes it meant she had to hide behind him while he mixed potion ingredients together. "An enchanting book. One that contains the power of the Command Block itself."</p><p>Everyone shared a shocked look, as Ivor continued, "Use it to enchant a weapon, and you'd be able to smash the Command Block into pieces. Forever."</p><p>"That sounds perfect!" Axel exclaimed, "let's go get that super weapon!"</p><p>Ivor winced a bit. "Just... one problem."</p><p>Everyone looked back at Ivor, who was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It's at my secret lab... which is sort of... far away."</p><p>A loud groan rose through everyone in the room.</p><p>"How far away would 'far away' be?" Ellegaard asked, crossing her arms and squinting at Ivor, who stepped back a bit.</p><p>Ivor let out a nervous laugh. "Ah... well... let's just say it's the farthest place a person can travel before being utterly-"</p><p>"Well, before we worry about that, we all need to get some rest," Jesse interrupted, cutting him off. "Some of us haven't rested for days. We need to rest before we all drop to the ground snoring or something."</p><p>A short silence, before everyone relaxed. Ivor shuffled his feet, until Jesse put a hand on his shoulder and steered him towards the Order members.</p><p>Gabriel stepped forward and held out his hand, a blank, rather warm smile on his face. "Hello. My name is Gabriel."</p><p>Ivor stared, before looking back at Jesse with a look that she really couldn't decipher. "Someone pinch me."</p><p>Jesse did that, making Ivor yelp and rub his upper forearm, scowling at Jesse, although he had a small smile twitching at his lips. The Order members, save Gabriel, could barely stifle their giggles as Jesse's friends also came over to the Order.</p><p>Gabriel's eyes slid to Lukas, and his eyes widened. "That jacket... I recognize it!"</p><p>Lukas blinked and twisted to reveal the ocelot on his back, before back at Gabriel. Jesse looked at Lukas, a bewildered look on her face, before she looked back at Gabriel. "Lukas always wears that jacket."</p><p>"No, no," Gabriel shook his head insistently, "There- there were other people wearing that jacket when I was thrown from the monster!"</p><p>Gasps, and Lukas's eyes widened. Gabriel reached up and grabbed at his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "Ughh... it- it hurts to just-"</p><p>"Hey, hey, hey," Magnus's eyes were wide as he pulled his friend aside to a corner, "It- it's okay."</p><p>Ellegaard smirked. "You looooove us."</p><p>"Ellie, I will slap you."</p><p>"You didn't deny it," Soren pointed out, a faint smile on his face.</p><p>Magnus paused, before he turned around, made a face at them, and pulled Gabriel to the corner. Jesse turned to Lukas, who turned to face her as well. "Jesse... d- do you think that what Gabriel said is true? I mean... if they were just trapped, then-"</p><p>"They could still be out there!" Jesse said, and Lukas nodded. "I know! That... that means I gotta go after them!"</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened, as he turned around, and her mouth opened, when suddenly she heard a groan, and Axel shifted Petra to the floor next to Gabriel and Ellegaard, the others crowded around them. "Hey, hey, easy, I gotcha," Axel said, looking alarmed.</p><p>Jesse gave Lukas a worried look, before coming over to Petra.</p><p>Petra needed her more right now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0053"><h2>53. Convincing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I've got to do-" Petra coughed, covering her mouth, "everything I can to make this right."</p><p>Ivor shifted uncomfortably.</p><p>"Petra, I know... this might be hard to hear," Olivia said softly, kneeling next to Petra, "but... you're too sick to do anything."</p><p>"I'm not THAT sick," Petra argued.</p><p>A hand rested on her shoulder, and she turned to see Gabriel tug his hand back and stare at it, bemused that frost was covering it, before he looked up at Petra. "I... I don't know you. I feel like I should. There's a bit of warmth, if I think about it. But... I still can't... I still don't know. But... I might not remember anything... but I do know that you can't keep going. These people... they care about you." Gabriel's brow creased. "I think <em>I</em> care about you."</p><p>Petra stared at the warrior, who looked back at her. "And if you keep going, we will all lose someone we care about."</p><p>"Petra, if you keep going... well, you might not be ABLE to keep going," Axel said, looking down at the floor.</p><p>"No!" Petra insisted, "I'm not a quitter!"</p><p>"We're not saying you are."</p><p>"I want to be there for you!"</p><p>Jesse put her arms around Petra, ignoring the frost as best as she could. "Petra... if you keep pushing yourself, you're not <em>going</em> to be there for us."</p><p>Petra looked at Jesse, her eyes lacking the energy they used to have, before she slumped a bit. "Maybe you're right."</p><p>"Besides, you should probably stay behind with Ellegaard," Soren picked up, "she can make sure you stay at least relatively warm, and you can check on her ankle. It's a win-win."</p><p>Petra gave Soren a piercing look, one that made him start fidgeting, before she looked at Jesse to see if she wanted to tell her to come with them.</p><p>"You need the most rest out of us. And if you keep pushing yourself... you're not going to get it," Jesse said, gently.</p><p>Petra lowered her eyes to the floor, frowning. "If you say so..." and then she raised her eyes. "But you'd better kick the Witherstorm in the eye for me."</p><p>Jesse laughed, covering her mouth with one hand as her face lit up a bit from giggling. Everyone else tittered gently, before Gabriel tilted his head at Jesse. "Jesse... tell me, who is this person?" He pointed at Magnus, "he keeps insulting me."</p><p>Magnus laughed and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head while Ellegaard rolled her eyes.</p><p>"One moment, I feel as if I'm talking to a friend... the next I'm being made fun of."</p><p>Ivor rolled his eyes a bit. "That's Magnus for you," he sighed. Soren sighed and put a hand over his eyes. "You're telling me."</p><p>"This is Magnus!" Jesse said, waving her arms at him, "King of Boom Town."</p><p>"Didn't you defeat him and become Queen of Boom Town?" Ellegaard asked. So Axel must've told Olivia, who then told Ellegaard.</p><p>"I was Queen for like, twenty seconds," Jesse responded, before waving her hands. "A-anyway, that's- that's not my point! He's your friend. He's been your friend for a very long time."</p><p>"Really?" Gabriel blinked at Jesse.</p><p>"Really."</p><p>Magnus shook his head. "It's not working."</p><p>"Well, tell him something about your past," Jesse suggested, "something only you or the others would know."</p><p>"What about the time you set his bed on fire?" Ivor suddenly suggested.</p><p>Ellegaard arched her eyebrow at the potionologist. "Which one?"</p><p>"That was an accident!" Magnus complained.</p><p>"You did have a penchant for setting his bed on fire, though," Soren pointed out, crossing his arms. "He must've gone through... what, twenty? Twenty six?"</p><p>"I only set fire to six!"</p><p>"Yes, that makes it SO much better," sighed Olivia, rubbing her temples.</p><p>"Ah, yes, I remember now. You blew up about fifteen and the other five were donated as test subjects to the Bureau of Amalgamology as things to test out their attacks on," Ivor said, raising a finger into the air.</p><p>"Oh yeah, I remember that," Olivia nodded. "That would explain why the five beds were more like pieces of charcoal than actual beds."</p><p>"Now I wonder how many of those were accidents," Petra joked weakly, making them all chuckle a bit. Gabriel blinked, before shaking his head.</p><p>"I'm sorry... but I can't remember."</p><p>Petra smiled at him weakly. "It's okay. You'll get your memory back sooner or later. We were all pretty close."</p><p>Jesse nodded agreeably, before looking over and making her way to the blonde ocelot hybrid, who was looking through a chest, leaving the others behind to converse quietly. Lukas looked up at her as she looked at him with worried green and red eyes. "What are you doing?"</p><p>"I told you, I'm going after my friends. I thought the other Ocelots were dead... but if they're not, I have to go find them."</p><p>"Lukas, you- you can't up and leave," Jesse protested, " you're a part of our team now!"</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse... but you saying that just reminds me that I left my team." Lukas turned to the spider hybrid, their faces inches from the other's.</p><p>"Look, Jesse, you and me... we've made a really good team. We were good friends back then, and I'd go so far as to call us friends now. So... I know you'd understand why I have to go help my OLD friends. Just like you'd go back for any of them."</p><p>"Lukas, we were friends ten years ago. We ARE old friends. And I'm asking you, as a friend-" Jesse felt her throat catch, "<em>please</em> stay. We need you, Lukas."</p><p>Lukas paused, looking at her uncertainly. "With three of those things... we need all the help we can get. The best way to help them, is to make sure the Witherstorm dies, and <em>stays</em> dead this time around."</p><p>Lukas watched her for a long moment, before sighing. "Okay. I'll stay. I just... I hope they'll be alright."</p><p>"I promise I will do <em>everything</em> I can to help you find them after this whole mess is over," Jesse said, crossing her heart and covering her eye. Lukas nodded, a small, grateful smile crossing his face. "... thanks, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse wrapped her arms around her friend, burying her head in his shoulder. "No problem."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0054"><h2>54. The Traveller's Tune</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A roar.</p><p>Jesse jolted out of her sleep, everyone barely having even gotten an hour of it. Ellegaard and Petra were sleeping in the back of the cave, a cloak draped over Petra. It turned out the cloak Petra had lent Soren was still in Soren's pocket, and he'd returned it to the redhead.</p><p>"I- we need to get moving," Jesse said, fingers wrapped around the amulet firmly. She looked down at the amulet with worry. Would she be endangering all of her friends if she kept ahold of it?</p><p>Then a larger hand took it. "I'll take it."</p><p>Jesse looked up, shocked, at Axel. "Axel- you- you can't! You could be killed!" she exclaimed, "you- you heard what Ivor said about the amulet- if-"</p><p>"We could all be killed, Jess," Axel pointed out, tugging the amulet from her grip.</p><p>"Are- are you sure?" Jesse asked, in a small voice.</p><p>Axel shook his head a bit, a sheepish smile coming onto his face. "Of course not."</p><p>"But you'll have three Witherstorms following you everywhere you go!" Olivia pointed out, eyes wide.</p><p>"If it gets too intense, I'll duck into the Nether or something," Axel shrugged it off, but Jesse could see it in the way his grey eyes crinkled up. He was scared.</p><p>Axel pocketed the amulet, before saying, more quietly than before, "I'm tired of always being the selfish one."</p><p>"Well, Axel shouldn't do this alone. I'm coming with you," and Magnus stepped up so he stood next to the burly male.</p><p>"Well, I'm coming with Jesse," and Jesse turned to see the Gabriel standing next to her, crossing his arms. "I pledged that I would help. And that's what I intend to do."</p><p>Jesse looked around at all of her friends, all of them watching her intently. Soren with a hand on Lukas's shoulder, Gabriel and Petra standing together in a small clump, Olivia supporting Ellegaard as she got up to bid her friends good bye, Axel next to the much smaller King of Boom Town, and Ivor standing a little behind them.</p><p>"Stay safe," she told them, "all of you. Take care of yourselves."</p><p>Petra stepped forward and pulled Jesse into a hug. The spider hybrid wrapped all six of her legs around Petra, before everyone slowly crowded into the group hug, Ivor even putting a hand on Jesse's back tentatively, before they all split apart.</p><p>Jesse hopped up onto a horse, Ivor jumping up after Soren onto another one, Lukas perching on one as well with Gabriel crawling after him onto the saddle, Olivia hopping onto her own, and Magnus and Axel hopping onto a horse as well. Jesse pulled her little pink pig up after her onto the saddle, Petra and Ellegaard retreating into the cave.</p><p>Jesse gave them all one last look, before looking back at Axel. "See you later, alligator," she said softly.</p><p>"In a while, crocodile," Axel responded, before they all split up, Ellegaard blocking up the entrance to the cave with stone blocks. Jesse watched the cave, watching Axel and Magnus go in the complete opposite direction, the cave, before the group she was travelling with turned a corner, and it was lost from sight.</p><hr/><p>Jesse squinted into the rain, as they passed through a forest of oak and birch trees. She'd made a scratch on the saddle leather to mark their first day, but she was bored already.</p><p>So, leaning over the horse's neck, she pulled out the journal and squinted at the words as the horse clopped after her friends.</p><p>'<em>The children are very shy around others, but the moment we come into the room they're... ecstatic, really. There's no other way to describe it. Ivor has started coming weekly (I'm fairly certain Ellegaard had something to do with it) and I've never seen Jesse happier than when she's reading a potion book with him. Sometimes he extracts some of her venom to make Potions of Poison. The Potions of Poison made from Jesse's venom is the strongest I've ever seen.'<br/>~ Gabriel</em></p><p>
  <em>'I don't mind coming around, really. It's nice to see Jesse again, and I think she's happy to see me, if her jumping on me is any indication. Lately, we've done little IQ tests for them. Even Magnus, and it took us about a week to convince him to do it. Their IQs are rather high for the amount of total seclusion that they have from the outside world. Well, that's not COMPLETELY accurate. The children have one small window the real world apparently, and that's us.'<br/>~ Ivor</em>
</p><hr/><p>Three more days had passed. The valley they were traveling through was a pretty long one.</p><p>Jesse pulled out the journal again, her eyes scanning the messily scrawled words.</p><p>'<em>We had a bit of a mishap today. The children were not in the best of moods- probably due to the fact that they had several medical tests done on them the day before- and so they were all huffy today. Well, to cut a very long story short, we had quite a time trying to clean up, what with the smashed glass on the floor, the several scorch marks, the burning cobwebs, and Magnus's clothing being on fire. Oh, and the random blocks of dirt and leaves all over the room. You should've seen Ellegaard's hair afterwards!'<br/>~Soren</em></p><p>
  <em>'I think the children have trouble controlling their powers when they use it past the point where they're used to. Petra set quite a good deal of the lab on fire by accident this morning. I'm glad that Olivia managed to build a wall high enough to keep the flames and the smoke suppressed while the scientists ran to go put it out. Otherwise, we had a relatively uneventful day.'<br/>~ Ellegaard</em>
</p><p>Jesse stopped reading and looked up from the journal. "Are we there yet?"</p><p>"Almost," Ivor responded.</p><hr/><p>They were traveling through the desert, cacti and sand everywhere. Three more days had passed.</p><p>"Are we there yet?" Jesse repeated to Ivor.</p><p>He sent her a look. It seemed vaguely annoyed. "Not much longer now."</p><p>Jesse sighed and pulled out the journal, as it seemed to be habit now.</p><p><em>'Ivor thinks we should go after the Ender Dragon in two or three months. Honestly, I think it's time we try. We've been preparing for ages; it's about time we try to get this thing done. We mentioned it to the kids that we're going in a few months, and they all wanted to come with us. Even Lukas and Jesse, who are not known for liking fighting, seemed really curious. I have no idea how to tell them they can't come.'<br/></em>~ <em>Magnus</em></p><p>
  <em>'Petra and Jesse are getting VERY good at sword fighting. Ivor couldn't come today, but I think he's taught her a couple tricks, because Jesse's not half bad. She actually managed to stay in the fight with me for longer than three minutes before I knocked her over, but she didn't seem too upset about it. She just asked Petra if she wanted to spar, and five minutes later the Blaze and the spider were swordfighting. It's a wonder how well these different mobs get along. Even Axel and Lukas have stopped hissing at each other by now.'<br/>~ Gabriel</em>
</p><hr/><p>Two days passed. Now they were traveling through a frozen tree forest. It was... actually, it was pretty beautiful.</p><p>Jesse looked up at them, before back at Ivor. She was forced to cover her mouth with her hand to keep herself from bursting into laughter at the sight of Ivor leaning on Soren's back, fast asleep. Soren elbowed him, making the dark-haired male bolt upright and nearly fall off the horse.</p><p>Jesse tried not to meet Lukas's eyes- judging by the muffled sounds he was making, the two of them would burst out laughing if they made eye contact.</p><p>To distract herself, Jesse pulled out the journal again. The dates skipped around, some being weeks after each other, some being mere days.</p><p><em>'I brought my work to the lab. Jesse helped me out today, actually brewing Potions of Healing and Speed and Strength. For someone as young as she is, she's surprisingly good at it. I don't know if Jesse practiced with the other scientists before, or if it's just from how often she reads the potions books I bring her, but she had almost no mishaps, except at one point when she mixed Blaze Rod and gunpowder together and the whole thing nearly blew sky high.'<br/></em>~ <em>Ivor</em></p><p>Jesse laughed at that.</p><p>
  <em>'There's only a few more weeks until we have to go fight the Ender Dragon. We told the children that after defeating the Ender Dragon, we might not be able to visit them. They didn't seem at all upset about the whole thing... well, okay, they did get a bit sad, but then we promised that we WOULD come visit, just not as often. That cheered them up. They were even more cheered up when I shared some chocolate with them, and for Lukas I had a fish. Chocolate is like poison to cats and dogs, apparently. Lukas didn't seem at all upset about the whole thing.'<br/>~ Soren</em>
</p><hr/><p>Another three days. It had nearly been two weeks.</p><p>Jesse gave Ivor a plain look. "Are we nearly there yet?" she asked, sounding more tired than whiny.</p><p>Ivor let out a sigh. "No," he said flatly, not even bothering to try to tell her that they were 'almost there'.</p><p>Lukas snorted, Jesse giving her friends a funny look as they all gave her amused grins. Even Ivor gave a grudging smile after several moments.</p><p>Jesse pulled out the journal again.</p><p><em>'There's only a week until we have to face the Ender Dragon. Where did the time go? The children are becoming more aware about the whole thing, too, and Olivia and Axel have, on several occasions, asked if they could please come. I think Petra has been bugging Gabriel, and Jesse and Lukas have been bugging Ivor and Soren respectively. We can't let them come. What are we supposed to tell them?'<br/></em>~ <em>Ellegaard</em></p><p>
  <em>'I'm fairly sure that Ivor and Jesse have been brewing potions as their activity. Only Ivor and Jesse can chat without stopping and still not screw up a potion massively. And only Jesse can make and mix an incredibly complicated potion in less than ten minutes without stopping chatting once. Her multi-tasking skills are incredible. I wish I could do that, too. It'd make griefing sooo much easier.'<br/>~ Magnus</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'We're going to face the Ender Dragon tomorrow. The children have given us little gifts to help us. Jesse's is the most astonishing. Apparently, Ivor left his brewing stand with her for her to play with, and she recruited all of her friends to make potions for us. Hers are the best, but theirs are not half-bad, which makes me wonder if she specifically taught them. Whatever the case, she did a terrific job. And they all wished us the best of luck. Now, to see if that luck will help us.'<br/>~ Gabriel</em>
</p><p>Jesse put the journal away for now, shifting in the saddle.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0055"><h2>55. Potato</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"My rear end is profoundly sore," Gabriel sighed, sitting there on the horse.</p><p>Lukas nodded agreement, raking a hand through his hair. "I feel like we've been riding forever."</p><p>Reuben oinked agreement.</p><p>"I'm telling you," Soren was saying, angrily, "we CANNOT go to the Far Lands!"</p><p>"Bit late for that now, isn't it?" Lukas asked, arching an eyebrow. Jesse stifled a laugh.</p><p>"They're not just the edge of our world, but the limits of our comprehension!" Soren continued.</p><p>"Oh, please," and Ivor rolled his dark blue orbs at the ginger. "The Far Lands are a happy accident. Nature's way of keeping life interesting."</p><p>"No, no!" Soren shook his unruly hair so furiously he nearly whipped Ivor in the face, "They are perilous and unpredictable! Strange noises, floating points... they are not to be toyed with!"</p><p>Jesse gave the architect a look. "They don't sound that bad to me," she responded.</p><p>Ivor grinned at Soren. "See? Jesse thinks the Far Lands are cool," he bragged.</p><p>Soren rolled his eyes. "Well, she WOULD- no offense, Jesse," he added, glancing at Jesse. She shrugged. "None taken."</p><p>Soren turned back to Ivor. "The Far Lands lie at the very edge of all things. Where logic gives way to chaos. They're a dangerous place to visit. And a <em>ridiculous</em> place to construct a laboratory!"</p><p>Ivor just chuckled at him. "Just wait until you see it."</p><p>"Do you two never stop arguing?" Olivia asked, sounding a little annoyed.</p><p>"Yeah. They're kind of like an old married couple," Jesse remarked teasingly, making Soren and Ivor turn bright red and turn to gape at her. Lukas cackled a bit, bending over his horse to try to hide it.</p><p>"I don't know. I'm too hungry to care," Gabriel sighed, leaning back a bit- as far as he could without toppling off the back of the horse.</p><p>"Yeah," Lukas agreed, no longer laughing. "I'm starving."</p><p>"When was the last thing we last ate?" Olivia wondered. "The last time I remember last EATING anything was about two weeks ago, in that dirt hut. And Jesse didn't eat anything."</p><p>As if to prove Olivia's point, Jesse's stomach practically roared.</p><p>"Yeah, we're all pretty hungry," and Jesse made a face at her stomach. "Maybe we should stop. There has to be something in this swamp that's edible."</p><p>"This isn't the time," Soren responded, "swamps are too dangerous. You never know what's lurking around-" He was cut off by a loud noise. His head snapped around, looking spooked. "What was that?"</p><p>"My stomach," Gabriel grumbled.</p><p>"Okay, let's just- take a break. Maybe find some food," Jesse said, brushing her fingers through her hair and jumping off her horse. Everyone followed suit, looking very relieved.</p><p>"We mustn't linger long," Ivor spoke, "the Far Lands are just beyond this swamp."</p><p>Jesse nodded, before wandering into the swamp, looking around. Leaning down, she picked a potato out of the ground. "Okay, potato, you're coming with me."</p><p>And she kept walking, before scooping up another potato. "Two potatoes are better than one. Especially when you're hungry," she added, a small grin twitching across her face.</p><p>Wandering back a bit, she scooped up another potato out of the ground. "Gotcha, potato."</p><p>Jesse smiled a little as she remembered how sometimes the Order would bring some foods. Jesse tended to like it when they brought anything to do with potatoes. Mashed potatoes, potato chips, you name it.</p><p>Finding a last potato, Jesse scooped it up and walked back to the group. "One potato, two potato, three potato, four," she hummed mildly, a small smile playing on her face. "Hey, check out what I found!" She pulled out a potato and waved it at her friends.</p><p>Olivia arched her eyebrow. She looked unimpressed. "A potato."</p><p>"It's food," Jesse pointed out. "Beggars can't be choosers."</p><p>"Good point."</p><p>And Jesse pulled out all four potatoes and regarded her six friends, then the potatoes. Well, everyone could get half a potato, in that case, since there were only seven people. So she took out her sword, cut them all in half, and handed a potato half to Gabriel.</p><p>Everyone ate at the potatoes, Jesse putting her half in her mouth and saying, through the potato, "I'm gun' go see if I cen find an'thing elf."</p><p>"Okay," and Soren gave her a thumbs up as she wandered off again, Ivor coming up after her. "How are you doing?" he asked as she hastily swallowed her potato slice.</p><p>"Not bad," Jesse shrugged, before spotting something that looked like a small house. The two of them went towards it, Ivor more reluctantly. "A witch's hut," he whispered to Jesse.</p><p>"We should stay clear of it. Nothing good ever happens when witches are involved," Ivor responded softly.</p><p>Jesse spotted something, and she stood on her tiptoes. "Hey, there's a cake!" she whispered, pointing at said cake, "that'd be enough to feed everyone!"</p><p>Ivor shook his head. "It's not worth it, Jesse. Witches hate trespassers."</p><p>Jesse gave the cake one last look, before turning back to Ivor. "Let's get out of here."</p><p>"Good idea." And the two of them started to tiptoe away as fast as humanly possible.</p><p>The two of them ran into the clearing rapidly, all of them looking at the two of them as they raced in.</p><p>"Did you find any more food?" Olivia asked, looking at Jesse.</p><p>"No- well, sort of, but it doesn't matter. There's a witch here! We saw her creeping through the swamp, and-"</p><p>A red bottle soared over Jesse's shoulder, barely missing her cheek, and smashed into the ground, scattering red swirls and red potion- a Potion of Harm- all over the floor, making them all jump back in shock.</p><p>"And... she's here," Jesse finished, dropping her head into her hands, lower arms adjusting so they rested on her hips in an agitated position.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0056"><h2>56. Witch and Glitch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse drew her sword rapidly as Olivia teleported, grabbing ahold of the witch, which turned threw a potion at her. Olivia teleported out of the way as Jesse charged forward. "Watch out for her potions!" Olivia warned.</p><p>Jesse ducked under one bottle before hitting the witch, flicking the blade and slicing through the witch's chest, which fell backwards before vanishing in a blast of smoke. Jesse let out a relieved sigh and drooped a bit. "See ya later, ya nasty old hag," she said, sheathing her sword, before an arrow impaled the ground, mere centimeters from her feet.</p><p>Jesse jumped back with a shout, and they looked up to see an army of skeletons firing arrows at them.</p><p>A loud series of neighs, and Jesse sighed as she watched the horses bolt in fear as they quickly ducked behind a makeshift wall to avoid getting impaled by the wave of arrows.</p><p>Another witch stepped into place among the skeletons, and Soren let out a soft sound of alarm. "Oh dear. Witches and skeletons... that's a deadly combination. Her potions and their arrows..." he trailed off, eyes widened. "We're all gonna die."</p><p>"We need to distract them!" Jesse said abruptly, looking back at the others. "Then we'd be free to run to the Far Lands!"</p><p>Olivia shook her head, eyes wide. "Yeah, okay, but how are we going to do that?"</p><p>Ivor made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat, making them all look at him. "The rest of you, go!" he shouted to them, "I'll hold them off!"</p><p>"What?! Ivor, no!" Soren protested, getting up.</p><p>"There's no time to argue!" Ivor snapped back, "just head for the corner of the Glitch Wall!"</p><p>"The <em>what</em> wall?!" Jesse cried out.</p><p>Ivor didn't respond, waving his arms as he ran towards the witch. "Hey, you witch!" he barked, "you're not the only one who can throw a potion!" And he chucked it as hard as he could at a skeleton, hitting it with the glass bursting on impact and killing it. Waving his arms again, he threw another one and ran off, arrows and potions following him.</p><p>Jesse turned to the others, who were staring after Ivor with wide eyes. "Run!" And they all took off, Olivia grabbing Gabriel and teleporting, Jesse scooping Reuben up, and Lukas yanking Soren along as fast as humanly possible without taking off Soren's arm. Which Soren probably appreciated.</p><hr/><p>The six of them practically exploded out of the swamp, sprinting until finally they came to a stop, panting loudly. "Guys, I think we lost them for-" Jesse froze, her eyes travelling up the wall they'd stopped in front of. "<em>Wow.</em>"</p><p>"I take your wow," Lukas said, coming up to her, his own blue-green eyes wide, "and raise it to a <em>wooow.</em>"</p><p>In front of them stood a MASSIVE wall made of stone, dirt, and who knows what else. There were twisting tunnels, holes, twists in the land, floating islands. Waterfalls cascaded down the sides, and the height. Jesse kept tilting her head back, but the massive wall rose so high it disappeared into the foggy clouds above them.</p><p>"<em>Ho</em>ly Notch," Jesse said, agreeing with Lukas.</p><p>"It's like we're at the edge of the world!" Olivia gasped, coming up on Jesse's other side, the three hybrids gaping at the huge wall.</p><p>"Actually, we seem to be at the corner of it," Soren remarked, before turning to the other five, "Welcome to the Far Lands, my friends."</p><p>"Is this the Glitch Wall?" Jesse asked the builder.</p><p>He bobbed his ginger head in a nod. "Yes; it's the entrance to the Far Lands." And he started leading them forward.</p><p>"I wish we'd had something else to eat," Olivia mumbled, "it'd make facing the wall of insanity a lot easier."</p><p>"At least Jesse found those potatoes," Lukas pointed out.</p><p>"That might be the saddest sentence ever uttered."</p><p>Jesse stifled a giggle. "Actually, I think the saddest sentence ever uttered was, 'He needs some milk'."</p><p>This prompted several giggles from the members of the group who were listening.</p><p>"Quite a sight, isn't it?" Soren hummed aimlessly, looking up at the wall, "stretching skywards, in all its glory... like a monument to chaos itself."</p><p>"Have you been here before?" Jesse asked, as the six friends clumped together for defense.</p><p>Soren shrugged. "Well, not HERE, specifically. But, I HAVE been to the Far Lands. The Order traveled far and wide in its heyday."</p><p>"Incredible," Gabriel said, looking around them with wide eyes.</p><p>Olivia nodded, watching trees rain fall sporadically through holes in the wall. "You can say that again."</p><p>"Incredible."</p><p>Olivia rolled her eyes, an amused smile playing on her mouth. "My bad. I should've seen that coming."</p><p>"How can Ivor live here?" Jesse mused. "I mean, it's one thing if it were Boom Town, or to build a wool world inside the End, but..."</p><p>Soren shook his head, looking curious. "Oh, I doubt he LIVES here. Most likely he just comes here for his most secretive research. Whatever Ivor's hiding here, it must be incredibly well guarded."</p><p>That did not especially help Jesse's optimism.</p><p>They approached one of the lower caves, redstone, torches, and other random things placed seemingly at random.</p><p>"This way, I suspect," Soren hummed.</p><p>Lukas sighed, making everyone look at the blonde curiously. "I'd feel better about this if Axel and Petra were here."</p><p>"I know what you mean," Olivia sighed agreement, rubbing her head and tousling her dark curly hair so that it was even messier than before.</p><p>Reuben let out a sad little whine, looking down at the ground. Jesse nodded, looking at the ground, before grabbing Olivia's hand, then Lukas's, and then grinning down at Reuben. "C'mon!"</p><p>And they all entered the cave, Soren leading the way, closely followed by Gabriel.</p><p>But the whole way in, the three hybrid's hands remained firmly intertwined.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0057"><h2>57. A-Maze-ing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Is this a maze?"</p><p>Jesse put her hands on her hips, staring up at the massive walls with a small area for the opening. Well, 'small' is relative. More like, narrow. "Looks like it."</p><p>The maze looked like a MASSIVE one, with vines covering it. There was a little pond near the entrance, flowers and saplings next to it.</p><p>"If Ivor used the Command Block to build this," Soren mused, touching his fingers to his mouth thoughtfully, "it could hold unspeakable peril."</p><p>Jesse raised an eyebrow. "So..."</p><p>"Maybe we shouldn't wander into the world's hardest maze without a guide?" Lukas finished, arching his eyebrow at his mentor.</p><p>"Unfortunately, this seems to be the only way forward," Soren sighed, rubbing his temples.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms and shook her way. "Yeaahhhh, no, I'm not about to walk into a maze when we have no clue what we're getting into. Let's look around for another entrance first, and if all else fails, we'll just go in."</p><p>"Best decision of the day," Olivia waved her arms in the air, nearly hitting Gabriel by accident. Jesse snorted.</p><p>Lukas, Soren, and Olivia started examining the walls, walking along the length of the wall but not too far out. Jesse perched her lower arms on her hips and fingered some of the vines with her fingers. They were pretty firm, and even though she and Olivia could probably make it up with no problem, the others probably needed some assistance. These vines were the most promising thing she'd seen so far.</p><p>"We might be able to climb these," she hummed, before Soren's voice cut though her thoughts like a sword through butter. "Everyone, en garde!"</p><p>Everyone turned to see zombies lurching towards them.</p><p>"I think I've said this before at some point, but... oh, snapcrackers," Olivia groaned.</p><p>Jesse touched her lip with her top set of arms. "... there's no way we can fight them all. Climb the vines!"</p><p>And everyone did as she asked, scrambling to get to the vines, except for Olivia, who just teleported to the top. Jesse slammed all six of her palms against the wall and swarmed up it, arms propelling her up until she was able to keep herself on the top of the wall without falling off.</p><p>"Well," Soren said, voice sounding rather faint, "that worked, I suppose."</p><p>Jesse looked around, and then slapped a hand to her face.</p><p>She was standing on the opposite wall. The other five- including Reuben- stood on the other side, staring at Jesse. The narrow gap that was the interest might as well have been a thousand miles.</p><p>Jesse waved to her friends, before looking down. "Um... let's split up," she sighed, "we'll cover more ground that way. Just head for..." Jesse perched as high on her tiptoes as she could without falling, pointing at what looked like a house in a spotlight. "-<em> that</em> house, right over there."</p><p>Soren nodded, and began to walk along the top of the wall. Everyone shared a look with each other, before they reluctantly kept going along the wall. Jesse watched them go. "Sure hope they don't get lost." She sighed and looked down at her portion of wall. "Sure hope <em>I</em> don't get lost."</p><p>Continuing on top of the wall, Jesse spotted her friends on the ground at one point, but they didn't see her. She kept going, although she kept hitting dead ends. Whenever she did, she measured the distance to see if she could lunge over it, and if she could, she made the jump.</p><p>She stopped near a waterfall, smiling fondly at it. "I met Reuben at a waterfall just like this," she said, looking at the clear blue water, "I hope he's okay."</p><p>Continuing along, passing some floating islands, Jesse was intercepted by a spider. It tilted its head, more curiously than anything, and Jesse stepped back and managed to utter out a hiss.</p><p>The spider crept towards Jesse, still looking curious. Slowly, Jesse reached back, and put a hand on the hilt of her sword, drawing it slightly.</p><p>The barest motion of the sword snapped the spider's curiosity, and it lunged at her. Jesse let out a yell, whipped out the sword, and slashed it through the spider instinctively, so roughly that her sword, the gold one that Petra had taken from Ivor's basement so long ago, broke in half, vanishing in a puff of smoke as the spider carcass vanished.</p><p>Jesse sighed and looked at her empty hand. "Of course. Juuust peachy."</p><p>Jesse glanced down at the maze as she kept going. Goodness, the TOP of the maze was probably just as complicated as the inside. She looked down when she spotted Olivia and Reuben continue through the maze. "Olivia!"</p><p>She was too quiet- Olivia didn't hear her and kept going. When Jesse looked up again, she gave an audible groan and put her head in her hands. A witch let out a high pitched laugh from where she was on the wall.</p><p>Jesse pulled out her bow and fired arrows, but she was running out fast. Ducking under a potion, she fired another arrow that DID make contact with the witch, but wasn't enough to knock her off the wall. And Jesse was out of arrows.</p><p>She let out another groan. "You've GOT to be kidding me." Looking at the bow in her hands as she ducked another potion, she ran towards the witch and swung it, hitting the witch as hard as she could and knocking the witch off the wall, the bow cracking and breaking in her hands as she did so. The witch puffed into smoke.</p><p>Jesse crawled down the wall when she spotted some sort of machine, walking towards it and the crafting table and chest next to it. Ivor's lab could also be seen not terribly far away.</p><p>I mean, save for the fact it was across a gaping chasm.</p><p>Jesse sighed and put her head in her hands again. "Couldn't saving the world be easier?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0058"><h2>58. Motivation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hmm," Jesse hummed after a minute or two, looking at the machine. "Redstone blocks, some pistons... wonder what this thing's supposed to be?"</p><p>"Hello? Anyone?"</p><p>Jesse turned at the familiar voice. "Olivia?" she called out.</p><p>Sure enough, Olivia turned the corner, Reuben at her feet. The Enderman hybrid teleported over to Jesse, enveloping the shorter female in a tight hug. "Oh man, am I glad to see you! I thought Reuben and I'd be lost in there <em>forever</em>!"</p><p>Jesse hugged Olivia back, not nearly as tightly as Axel could but still pretty tightly, before releasing her friend with a grin on her face. "It's good to see you, too." Kneeling down, she gently patted her little pink pig.</p><p>Olivia was quiet for a second, before saying, "This maze... we don't have time for this. I mean, the clock's ticking... yet here we are stuck in this elaborate puzzle."</p><p>"I know. I mean, I <em>like</em> puzzles, but... I know when the time is that we can DO them," Jesse added, making Olivia chuckle. "And we really need to figure out what happened to the others."</p><p>"I wonder if they found a way over this pit," Olivia mused.</p><p>The two girls turned to look at the huge, gaping pit, in silence for a moment. It was almost as if they were paying tribute to it somehow. "I think it goes down forever," Olivia said finally.</p><p>Jesse looked at the machine. "What about this thing? Could it get us across?"</p><p>Olivia looked at the machine as well, crossing her arms a bit. "Hmmnn, it's some kind of flying barge." She pressed a hand to it, examining the machine. "It would probably get us to the other side... but it's in pretty bad shape. And it's really complicated."</p><p>"You can fix it, though, right?" Jesse tilted her head at Olivia, who put a hand to her mouth. "I don't know. I think it's out of my league. I wish I'd had more time to study with Ellegaard. She could probably have fixed this right up."</p><p>"I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out," Jesse said cheerfully, smiling up at the dark-haired girl, "you're one of the smartest people I know. I'll help you."</p><p>Olivia looked at Jesse, a hopeless look in her eye. "How can you help me when I don't even know where to start?" she asked, voice sounding hollow. "This layout doesn't even make sense. I mean, what was Ivor thinking?" She slumped a bit. "Or maybe it's just me."</p><p>"You studied with Ellegaard at the age of five or six," Jesse pointed out, arching her eyebrow, "and you're one of the smartest people I know. You can definitely do this."</p><p>"How are WE supposed to do this, if the Order can't? They're the Order of the Stone, Jesse. The <em>Order of the Stone</em>, do you-" Olivia sighed and turned away. "Soren and Ivor are always at each other's throats. Ellegaard and Magnus argue all the time. The 'greatest warrior in history' can't remember his own name. How are we supposed to do this? How are we supposed to do anything? We're nobody."</p><p>"All I know is," Jesse said softly, "is that the world is depending on us."</p><p>Olivia shook her head, glaring at nothing in particular. "Then maybe the world is in trouble. They defeated a dragon, Jesse! Can you even name one thing we did correctly?"</p><p>Jesse walked over to Olivia, ducking down to meet Olivia's frustrated eyes. "Well, we're hybrids, first off, so we're not just human. But ignoring that... we reunited the Order of the Stone. You got Ellegaard. Axel and I got Magnus. And we both played a role with Soren."</p><p>Olivia blinked at Jesse, before her glare softened. "Yeah... I guess that's true..."</p><p>Jesse looked expectantly at the Enderman hybrid, who rolled her eyes with a soft laugh. "Agh. Alright. I'll try it one more time."</p><p>She turned back to the machine, Jesse waiting expectantly not too far from Olivia, who was examining the machine, before her eyes widened. "Wait a minute... <em>wait a minute...</em> I think I see what he was trying to do, here!"</p><p>"See, told you you'd figure it out!" Jesse beamed at her, Olivia smiling up at her gratefully. Standing up, she handed the spider hybrid a piston, rattling off, "Jesse, take this piston, craft a sticky piston, then place it on the other side of the barge, along with a redstone block."</p><p>Jesse nodded and gave Olivia a weak grin. "Sure."</p><p>Going over to the chest, she set down the piston and rummaged through the chest. "Hm, a slime ball... and some redstone dust. Oh, and a flint and steel. Huh." She pulled them all out, juggling them slightly- six arms were really helpful in this situation- before going over to the crafting table and working, before finishing a redstone block and the sticky piston. "All right, we're done with that," she said, holding both with a grin, before walking over to the opposite side of the machine, Olivia still doing some work on her side.</p><p>Jesse put the redstone block, then tried the sticky piston, just as Olivia finished, the redstone starting to glow.</p><p>The two of them high-fived, a grin on their face. "Hey, we did it!" Olivia exclaimed, beaming.</p><p>"We did!" Jesse agreed.</p><p>Olivia gave Jesse a small smile. "Oh, and Jesse- thanks for everything you said earlier. It really helped."</p><p>Jesse put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Hey, no problem."</p><p>The moment was shattered by a yell of, "It must be this way!"</p><p>"Gabriel?" Olivia asked, sounding bemused.</p><p>"Run!"</p><p>"Lukas!" Jesse exclaimed.</p><p>Sure enough, Soren, Gabriel, and Lukas skidded around a corner, followed by a large horde of zombies. Reuben let out a terrified squeal.</p><p>"Everyone, get on! Onto the barge!" Jesse yelled, Olivia bleeping into the barge. Soren, Lukas, and Gabriel scrambled in, and Jesse tossed Reuben before grabbing the flint and steel and striking them, making the pistons start moving away from the edge.</p><p>Jesse backed up a step, before running forward, and lunging, catching ahold of the edge of one of the boats, dangling with one hand over the bottomless abyss.</p><p>"Oh sheesh," and Lukas leaned down and pulled the spider hybrid into the boat as Jesse kicked furiously to get in, managing to scramble in. Looking back, they watched as a zombie dumbly fell into the abyss.</p><p>"Well, at least that wasn't one of us," Lukas panted, sounding relieved. His tail kept standing up in the air, bushy as they'd ever seen it.</p><p>"Yeah," Jesse agreed, "that was- that was <em>close</em>. Is everyone okay?"</p><p>Soren's eyes were fixed on the lab, and he didn't move at all. "For the moment," he said, still not tearing his eyes from the lab ahead.</p><p>"Wait," Gabriel spoke suddenly, "I remember something."</p><p>Everyone turned to look at the warrior, who was looking at Soren in interest. "Didn't Ellegaard build a machine like this once?"</p><p>Soren nodded, hands clinging to the rim of the boat. "Once, in the Nether."</p><p>"Hmmm..." Gabriel's eyes, still discolored, widened. "And you were terrified of flying on it!"</p><p>"What?" Soren laughed nervously at that, hands tightening on the boat edge. "Stuff and nonsense!"</p><p>"No, no, I'm positive!" Gabriel insisted, the two Order members seeming rather oblivious to the silent giggling fit the hybrids were having in their boat. "You spend the whole ride quivering in terror!"</p><p>Jesse barely managed to eke out through her laughter, "Soren, is that true?"</p><p>"No, of course not-" he was cut off as the barge rocked a bit, making his head snap forward and his hands tighten even more on the boat edge. His knuckles were actually white.</p><p>"Well..." Gabriel chuckled slightly, "I might be mistaken."</p><p>"I liked you better when you had amnesia."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0059"><h2>59. Libraries</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So many books," Gabriel gaped at the hundreds, possibly <em>thousands</em> of books in the room. Potion bottles rested on top of the shelves, and lamps, and glowing blue ores.</p><p>"Let's just fan out and look for the enchanting book," Jesse said, all of them splitting up and looking through the shelves practically before she'd finished.</p><p>Jesse approached Lukas, who was nearest. "Having any luck?" she asked, kindly.</p><p>Lukas made a face. "Not really. ... been thinking about a lot of stuff, actually."</p><p>Jesse frowned, crossing all six of her arms. "What kind of stuff?"</p><p>"Us being hybrids, Gabriel, the Ocelots, people getting amnesia and Wither Sickness... don't get me wrong. I'm glad I came with you, but... I'm just... just scared for everyone. For us, for them, for... everyone, really."</p><p>Jesse reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, you're a good friend, Lukas. The fact that you're always thinking about others... it says a lot about you."</p><p>Lukas gave Jesse a small smile. "Well, I like my friends. I guess that's why we're friends in the first place."</p><p>"Either that," Jesse teased, "or they say nice things about you."</p><p>Lukas laughed at that. Jesse reached out and patted him gently on the head, making him close his eyes and purr for a second. "Ivor, though... I think some of his only friends were books."</p><p>"I guess being alone for ten years gives you a lot of time to read," Jesse agreed, softly.</p><p>"Tell me about it. 'How to Train Your Slime'... 'The Various Uses of Mooshroom Stew'," Lukas read off some of the titles, "Potionology... Volume Twenty Four!?"</p><p>"Well, none of them look like the enchanting book," Jesse frowned, and Lukas nodded, before leaning down and turning back to the books. Jesse wandered, looking through the books thoughtfully.</p><p>"Hmmm... 'A Brief History of Cubism'... 'Crafting for Noobs, Revised'... 'A Collector's Guide to Precious Gems'..." Jesse looked over at Olivia, who she'd ended up next to. "Any luck, Liv?"</p><p>"Not really," Olivia put her hands on her hips, "Ivor has too many books, and there're too few of us looking. How did we all get split up like this? I feel like we're spreading ourselves too thin. That first night, that we all spent together? That was... fun. Almost."</p><p>"At least Lukas is still here," Jesse said, gladly, "for a minute back at the cave, I thought he was going to leave, too."</p><p>"Glad you talked him out of here," Olivia agreed, "he's smart, I like having him around."</p><p>"And," Jesse leaned in, "he has excellent hair."</p><p>Both girls giggled softly as they glanced at Lukas, who seemed totally oblivious to the fact they were looking at him.</p><p>"He does have good hair, doesn't he?" Olivia agreed when she recovered from her giggling fit.</p><p>Jesse nodded, before moving on, looking through the books some more. "Hm, 'How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mining'... 'The Unabridged Redstone Encyclopedia'... 'Zombies and Pigs, an Intimate Memoir'... huh, none of these have much to do with enchanting. Any luck, yet?" Jesse asked Soren, who she'd once again ended up next to.</p><p>Soren scoffed. "In THIS mess?! It's as though Ivor learned nothing from my lectures on methodological organization! If only he hadn't gotten lost in that confounded swamp. Coming here was his idea!"</p><p>Jesse frowned at the wall of books. "Well, there has to be some way to find the book."</p><p>"There's neither rhyme nor reason to how these books are stored!" Soren complained. "Finding anything in here is impossible!"</p><p>"Tedious, maybe. Impossible? Absolutely not," Jesse said, pulling out six books at once, giving them all a glance over, before shoving them back into their rightful places.</p><p>Soren gave Jesse a long look, before sighing. "Fine. I will continue this monotonous search. But I reserve the right to grumble about it."</p><p>"Believe me, I want to grumble about it too," Jesse agreed empathetically, making Soren give her a reluctant grin.</p><p>Jesse moved on into a room with a fireplace, and she arched her eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Reuben, what are you doing?"</p><p>The little pig, who was sitting very close to the fire, gave her a squeal.</p><p>"Well, you're gonna be cooked." She fondled his ears and moved him a couple more feet away. "I've told you," she said fondly, "stay. Away. From fire-and-or-lava."</p><p>Reuben let out an oink, and Jesse looked around, before spotting a hole with a trail of redstone inside. "Okay... I'm sure I could find a lever or something to power it. Or craft one," Jesse mused, before turning around, looking about her. She spotted a piece of cobblestone resting on a shelf nearby, and snagged it, before noticing Gabriel looking through the potions.</p><p>He looked at her when she came up to him. "This Ivor character... I recall that he knew something about potions. Could one of these stop the Wither monsters?"</p><p>"No," she sighed, putting a hand to her head reluctantly, "there was only one potion that really had ANY chance of powering down the Command Block. And we lost that about two weeks ago." She looked at him, as her six arms began to sort through books, eyes flicking through the titles quickly as she multitasked.</p><p>Gabriel hesitated. "I recall that... Ivor was... better with potions than people. And he... he..." After another moment, he huffed. "That's all. Besides the whole Ivor-being-a-jerk thing."</p><p>Jesse turned her head, coughing, amusement in her eyes. "He's not THAT bad. When you really got to know him he was... well, he was warm, and kind, and I think he thought of his friends like family. Like you," and she looked over at the warrior.</p><p>Gabriel frowned and turned back to the potions. "Potion of blindness... potion of dullness... potion of nausea... none of these will help me." He paused, before asking, softly, "Jesse, am I going to be all right? Or... is this just who I am now? Always struggling to remember what I was... what I'm supposed to be..."</p><p>"You're gonna be okay," and Jesse rested her hands on his shoulders, firmly. "You're Gabriel the Warrior!"</p><p>Gabriel gave the girl a small smile. "Thank you, Jesse. Your confidence in me is stronger than any potion. Except maybe a potion of confidence... I wonder if Ivor has one of those."</p><p>Jesse laughed a bit before moving away, looking around the room some more.</p><p>She meant it, though.</p><p>She'd do anything to make sure they were all okay.</p><p>Even if it meant losing her own life.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0060"><h2>60. Treasure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"There we go, a lever!" After five more minutes of searching, Jesse had found some wooden planks and used them to make sticks, which she then used to make a lever.</p><p>Putting it in the hole with the redstone, Jesse flicked the lever, and pistons started firing. The fire in the fireplace vanished, and the back part vanished to reveal a staircase leading down into darkness.</p><p>The others crowded around, staring down the long staircase. "Why would you build a secret passageway in a house nobody visits?" Lukas wondered.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "More like why <em>wouldn't</em> you. Secret passageways are cool."</p><p>"Good point."</p><p>Soren, Jesse and Reuben started down the staircase, slowly, when suddenly a loud clicking sound was heard. The three of them looked down to see Soren's foot on a tripwire.</p><p>The builder and the spider hybrid turned to each other, panic in their eyes, before they whipped back around.</p><p>Sounds. Both of them turned to see the walls closing, Lukas running towards them, but the walls slammed shut right in his face. Jesse put her hand against the stone, feeling heat through it, meaning the lava and the fire had come back on.</p><p>"Is everyone okay?" she shouted through the wall.</p><p>The sound of something toggling sounded. "We're fine, but the lever isn't working anymore!"</p><p>Jesse looked down at Soren, who shrugged helplessly.</p><p>Jesse turned back to the wall. "Stay there: we'll head down and see what we can find!"</p><p>With that, she and the builder turned around and kept walking down into the darkness.</p><hr/><p>"Whoa," Jesse said, blinking as they entered a room with several pedestals on the sides. "What IS all this?"</p><p>Soren shook his head, a slow grin coming across his face. "Incredible! He's gathered them all in one place!"</p><p>Jesse looked over at Soren, puzzlement in her eyes. "Gathered... what exactly?"</p><p>At the head of the room was a large, black object shaped like an egg. On the left side, there were white drops and a strange ice block, and on the right, a blue shard and a brightly glowing block. Soren turned to Jesse, his face also brightly glowing. "These, my dear, are the treasures of the Order of the Stone! The stories I could tell about these dusty old things." He went up to the black egg, a sad little smile on his face.</p><p>Jesse looked around, a small frown coming over her face. "I... don't see the enchanting book. Maybe through the doors?"</p><p>Soren went over to the doors and gave them a yank. He turned back to Jesse, shaking his head. "Locked. Of course."</p><p>"There must be a way to open it," Jesse mumbled, going over to the white drops. She leaned rather close to the drops, squinting, before her eyes widened. "H-hey, Ivor taught me about these!" she exclaimed, "these are Ghast tears! He said they're super hard to get."</p><p>"You don't know the HALF of it," Soren chuckled, "it was our first official mission as the Order of the Stone. We fought those Ghasts for hours... and the tears were our reward."</p><p>Jesse blinked at them, before reaching out.</p><p>"What are you doing?"</p><p>"They're sitting on some sort of... pressure plate," Jesse responded, carefully lifting them off the pressure plate. Besides the pressure plate clicking as it came up, nothing much else happened.</p><p>Jesse traipsed over to the glowing block next, frowning a bit. "Why does Ivor have all the treasures of the Order of the Stone, by the way? Did he... steal them?" She was reluctant to use the last two words, and said them as fast as possible, as if spitting a nasty taste off her tongue.</p><p>"No, no!" Soren shook his head, to Jesse's relief. "We... we let him keep them, after we split up."</p><p>Jesse looked around at the treasures, before tilting her head at Soren. "Why?"</p><p>"It's a long story, Jesse." Was it just her, or did Soren look guilty?</p><p>Jesse turned to the glowing block, tilting her head. "... is this a Sea Lantern?" she asked him at last, looking up at Soren. For a moment, she seemed like she had turned back into a little kid, her hands on her knees as she knelt down to look at it.</p><p>"Yes," Soren nodded, "the very one the Order built, all those years again. We were so green back then... looks just as bright as the day as when we crafted it."</p><p>Jesse reached out and carefully lifted it off as well, being careful not to drop it, before walking over to the blue crystals shards in interest. "These are Prismarine crystals.. you can only get them underwater, right?"</p><p>"Precisely! We nearly ran out of oxygen getting these." He chuckled a bit. "Ellegaard had to use a spare bucket to grab a couple extra breaths. We used most of them to craft the Sea Lantern. This is what was left."</p><p>"Cool," Jesse said, interested, reaching out and taking the crystals carefully, releasing another pressure plate, "Prismarine is such a cool word."</p><p>Walking over to the ice block, she poked it with one of her lower arms before looking at Soren. "Where'd this packed ice come from?"</p><p>"We brought it back from the Ice Plain Spikes biome," Soren answered, "it was colder there than anywhere we'd ever been. But Magnus slipped so many times, our laughter kept us warm. After that, we knew we were ready to face the Ender Dragon."</p><p>Jesse let out a soft laugh, realizing with a soft jolt that Soren and the others had never really TALKED to them about their adventures. I mean, sometimes they'd disappear on week or month long expeditions, but the hybrids had never asked, and the Order had never really volunteered that information. Jesse and her friends had always been happy just to see the Order.</p><p>Reaching out, Jesse took the packed ice, releasing yet another pressure plate.</p><p>They walked up to the big black egg, looking at it. "Is this the actual Ender Dragon egg?" Jesse asked Soren.</p><p>Soren looked at it, sadly. "Yes. The only thing that remains of our last adventure together."</p><p>"Well, we can't forget it." And Jesse reached out, picking up the egg, releasing the last pressure plate.</p><p>Two things happened almost simultaneously- the pressure plate released, and ten hoppers appeared. Five on the floor, five on the ceiling above the five on the floor.</p><p>"Huh," Jesse said, staring thoughtfully at the puzzle.</p><p>"Why was Ivor hiding a hopper in the basement?" Soren pondered.</p><p>Jesse didn't answer, looking closely at the hoppers. It seemed hooked up to some redstone circuitry, and the hoppers were numbered one through five. Jesse looked through the treasures, before withdrawing the Ghast Tears and placing them in the first hopper. "Okay, this goes here..." And she went over to the last one and put the rather heavy Ender Dragon egg in, being careful not to drop it. "That's two."</p><p>Number four was the packed ice, which Jesse nearly fumbled and dropped, and then Jesse tipped in the prismarine crystal and then the sea lantern into hoppers 2 and 3, respectively.</p><p>The five items got sucked in, and the iron doors flew open.</p><p>Soren looked at Jesse, startled. "You solved it? But how did you know what order to put them in?! There were one hundred and twenty possible combinations!"</p><p>Jesse blinked at that. "I'm.. not going to ask how you know that. But, to answer the question... your stories gave me the answer," and she smiled warmly at Soren.</p><p>Soren stared at her, before his gaze softened. "Nice work, Jesse. You know, I often give Ivor a hard time... but for all his complaining, his time in the Order meant a great deal to him."</p><p>Jesse smiled at the builder and her little pink pig. "Well, come on. Let's go find that enchanting book."</p><p>And they walked through the iron doors.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0061"><h2>61. Ender Dragon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Soren's mouth was so wide open Jesse was fairly certain she could chucked an apple into his mouth and it would've gone right in. "By the stars!" he breathed, "the Ender Dragon!"</p><p>Jesse's mouth was also pretty wide open at the sight in front of her. In the room was a huge Ender Dragon replica, glowing redstone lamps for each eye, and behind it, there was no wall, but it extended into what seemed to be a pretty accurate representation of a fake End. "With replica Ender crystals and all!" Soren finished, going into the room and looking around.</p><p>"Wow," Jesse breathed, "wow, wow, wow! I'd always wondered what it looked like."</p><p>Walking in, the three of them traipsed in and had a look at the four obsidian towers with banners and buttons on them, objects decorating the banners. Lit redstone lamps stood on top, and more redstone traveled down the backs. "Soren, what is this?" she wondered, as she looked at the green banner with TNT on it, yellow with a loaded bow, red with a piece of redstone dust, and blue with a diamond sword on it. Soren seemed to be admiring the Ender Dragon replica, but he turned to look at the spider hybrid at her question.</p><p>Soren turned back to the replica of the dragon, putting his hands on his hips. "It appears to be a homage to our battle with the Ender Dragon. Despite his anger, Ivor never stopped being fond of us. He was a big part of our team. He knew his days in the Order were his finest."</p><p>Jesse looked at Soren, a sad look in her eyes. "So why did he quit?" she asked, softly, cupping her elbows in her hands.</p><p>Soren's face grew more somber, and he looked away. "It's a long story," he uttered in response.</p><p>Jesse waited for the architect to elaborate, but Soren didn't seem like he wanted to say anything else, so Jesse subtly averted the subject. "So... how did you beat the Ender Dragon, anyway?" she wondered, looking around the room.</p><p>Soren turned to Jesse, a funny look in his eyes. He was quiet for a moment, before beginning, a slow smile beginning to come over his face,"If you'd only been there... it was a fight for the ages. You might remember, but we spent weeks preparing for our greatest battle ever. But even so, the Ender Dragon was stronger than even I had imagined. I realized that it was drawing energy from the Ender crystals, and that the crystals had to be destroyed.</p><p>"I hit the first with a perfectly placed arrow. The second, by launching myself on a shockwave of Magnus's TNT. Using only my strength and my wiles-" Jesse had to roll her eyes a bit at that, "I steered the dragon towards the third crystal. Ellegaard destroyed that one, though- she made a redstone machine that shattered the crystal. I flew the dragon directly toward the final crystal, and it flew straight into the crystal. Only then did Gabriel deliver his famous final blow.</p><p>"We became heroes, and eventually, legends. The greatest the world has ever known," Soren finished, with his smile not fading at all.</p><p>"Wow," Jesse said, eyes widened. "That... wow. You did all of that?"</p><p>"Indeed we did. They didn't call us the Order of the Stone for nothing," Soren said, grinning at her warmly.</p><p>Jesse turned back to the four pillars thoughtfully, before looking up at the replica. There was a lever there on the back of the Ender Dragon's head.</p><p>Jesse raised a palm, shot a strand of string, and retracted herself so that she hit the back of the Ender Dragon, did a flip, and landed neatly on her feet. She was really getting good at it, even being able to control how fast or how slow she retracted it.</p><p>Flipping the lever, she waited for something to happen. She heard a thunk from behind the iron doors that were immediately in the room, and looked down at the iron doors. Those doors hadn't budged one centimeter.</p><p>"Okay, so I opened something BEYOND the first set of doors," Jesse muttered, jumping back to the ground, "now to find the thing that opens the first set of doors itself."</p><p>She looked at the four pillars, before going to the yellow one and hitting that first. Then she trotted over to the green one and smacked that button, then the red banner, which she also hit. Finally, she went up to the blue banner and touched that button, each redstone lamp atop the pillar going dark as she hit the respective button.</p><p>The doors sprang open quickly, nearly hitting Reuben, who'd gone over there to sniff around, in the face. Reuben let out an alarmed squeal, jumping back</p><p>"Oh Notch! Are you okay, Reuben?" Jesse hurried over to the pig, who let out a little squeal and nodded. She grinned and fondled his ears a bit. "That's good. I wouldn't want you getting hurt."</p><p>Reuben smiled at her, bright brown eyes practically glowing in the purple light.</p><p>"Bravo! You did it!" Soren smiled at her.</p><p>Jesse smiled back, before walking in, a relieved sigh coming out of her lungs at the sight of of the book resting on a quartz block in the center of the room, purple runes floating off of them. "There's the book!" Jesse exclaimed, walking towards it, feeling relief flood through her.</p><p>Reuben let out a confused oink, and Jesse looked up, tearing her eyes from the book. She gasped and took a step back, hands flying up to her lips in shock, green and red eyes widening in confusion.</p><p>Because right there, right in front of them, floating on their own respective quartz blocks were the Ender Crystals.</p><p>The real ones.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0062"><h2>62. Lie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"S... Soren? Aren't those... the Ender Crystals? The real ones?" Jesse asked, eyes wide as she slowly turned to the architect.</p><p>Soren was staring at the Crystals as well, his expression filled with horror. "No... it can't be. Not here. After all this time!"</p><p>Jesse looked at Soren, concern in her eyes. "Soren, what are the Ender Crystals doing in the Far Lands?"</p><p>"He kept them," it was as though Jesse hadn't even asked her question, as Soren stepped closer to the violet crystals, "The fool actually <em>kept </em>them! He looked me in the eye and swore-" he turned back to Jesse, "he swore that he'd destroy them."</p><p>"But they were destroyed!" Jesse cried out, but she felt a cold, worried, creeping feeling in her stomach, and she turned a bit. "R... right? Soren, you said these crystals were the key to destroying the Ender Dragon..." She shook her head. "You... you <em>did</em> kill the Ender Dragon... right?"</p><p>Soren looked from the spider hybrid back to the crystals, panic written clear as day on his face, "Jesse, this- this isn't what it looks like! Our- our story is mostly- mostly true, I swear it!"</p><p>Jesse stepped back, eyes filled with a mix of emotions. Anger, worry, sorrow, betrayal. "... so what really happened, then?" Her voice had dropped to a whisper, "if you didn't destroy the Ender crystals..."</p><p>"I-I can't," Soren stuttered, "We swore- we swore never to speak of it-"</p><p>"Soren."</p><p>Soren's voice faded to nothing at the sight of the hard-eyed girl, standing there, waiting as if demanding an explanation.</p><p>The girl whose friends had been abandoned after the battle, the girl who'd waited and waited and waited for days and weeks and years to see them again.</p><p>The girl who, frankly, out of anybody in the world, deserved an honest explanation from them.</p><p>"I'm afraid," he finally began, turning around and pressing his hands to the quartz stands, back facing Jesse. "I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest with you. We... we <em>did</em> defeat the Ender Dragon. But it wasn't exactly as I said. We got rid of it. But we... we didn't kill it, per se." He looked over his shoulder at Jesse. "We didn't even fight it." He closed his eyes. "I didn't even try."</p><p>"So then what did you do to it?" Jesse asked, curiously.</p><p>"We didn't do anything!" Soren turned around, "We used the Command Block on it!"</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened, her arms dropping to her sides. She stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, before exploding, "<em>You used the Command Block to defeat the Ender Dragon?!</em>"</p><p>Soren's face turned into a shamefaced one. Ashamed and guilty. "I'm afraid so."</p><p>"How could you <em>do</em> this?" Jesse stared at him. "We- even when we didn't remember you, we looked up to you. You were our heroes. You were our role models. And... you've been lying to everyone this whole time?!" Her voice was quiet, hurt, almost.</p><p>"Understand," Soren said, softly, "when I found that blasted block, we were nobodies. But with its help... we became stronger. Faster. We could do so much more. The others had no idea what I was doing. But the more we used it... the more we came to depend on it. I knew it was only so long before someone would find out. The others were going to die, we- we had no idea what to do. Against an enemy that powerful... I concocted a plan. I would use the Command Block to blink the Ender Dragon out of existence... securing our status as legends... forever."</p><p>Jesse stared at Soren, who looked at Jesse pleadingly. "We told the world we'd slayed a dragon... and you know what happened after that."</p><p>Jesse probably should've been furious. Having been lied to, having been lied to so many times, for so long. The Order abandoning them in the lab to probably become the scientist's mindless experiments had their escape attempt not succeeded.</p><p>But she couldn't get angry.</p><p>Not at someone who had given her the honest truth when she'd asked for it.</p><p>"So, you finally admit it."</p><p>Both of them turned to see Olivia, Lukas, Gabriel, even Ivor coming towards them, Ivor's arms crossed.</p><p>"Soren... how could you?" Olivia asked, her voice barely a whisper.</p><p>Soren's eyes weren't on her, though. They were fixed in a glare at the man who'd started this whole mess. "<em>Ivor.</em>"</p><p>"How long have you guys been standing there?" Jesse asked, blinking at her friends.</p><p>"Long enough that we heard the whole thing," Lukas said, a hurt look fixed right at his mentor. The ginger shifted.</p><p>"So we're liars?" Gabriel asked, looking disappointed, "all of us?"</p><p>"Yeah," Lukas said softly, "I think you are."</p><p>"You didn't think you could keep it a secret forever, did you?" Ivor glared at his former friend, "the truth hurts, doesn't it?"</p><p>"But... Ivor, why?"</p><p>Jesse looked from her mentor to the architect, her brow creasing. "Is this why you left the Order?" she asked him, frowning, "because Soren lied?"</p><p>Ivor glared at Soren. "Because they all did! Soren, Gabriel, Magnus, Ellegaard... they all agreed to keep this a secret!" he let out an angry growl of anger.</p><p>Gabriel's brow furrowed. "How conniving of us," he said, softly.</p><p>"And you!" Soren accused, "you agreed to stay quiet, too! In exchange for all of our treasures!"</p><p>Olivia gasped, hands going to her mouth.</p><p>"I technically have never spoken a word," Ivor replied, "Jesse discovered the truth all on her own."</p><p>"So, this whole thing, the Wither you unleashed," Lukas spoke up, "that was just to teach the Order a lesson?!"</p><p>"To teach the whole world a lesson!" Ivor snapped back, whipping back around to face the blonde ocelot hybrid, "to show you who the Order really are! Liars. Cowards. And now, they all know."</p><p>"Yes, I suppose they do," Soren sighed.</p><p>Jesse shook her head firmly, crossing all eight of her arms. "Okay, look, it doesn't matter how this started- <em>or</em> who started it. We just have to finish it! We need to destroy that Command Block. Like, now."</p><p>Soren sighed again. "Jesse's right. Destroying the Command Block is the only thing that matters anymore."</p><p>A short silence, before Ivor went over to the book, shutting it and cutting off the glowing purple runes, "How ironic that the best thing that the Command Block gave us was the very means to destroy it. I've had this book for years. Never thought I'd actually have to use it. Come on, Jesse, I'll show you how to use it."</p><p>Jesse took the book in her hands, as Soren spoke up, softly, eyes fixed on the floor. "Ivor... I'm sorry. About everything."</p><p>Ivor looked at Soren for the longest time, his eyes softening. "I am sorry too. ... it doesn't matter now," he said, his voice uncommonly soft.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0063"><h2>63. Enchant</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Grab some ingredients and a craft a weapon. I'll show you how to enchant it," Ivor told Jesse as she walked into the room after him, brightly colored sets of armor behind a crafting table, an anvil, and a chest.</p><p>"Cool!" And for a second, Jesse was six years old again, beaming up at Ivor. The things he showed her were always really cool; it beat anything the Order tried to bring by a landslide.</p><p>Jesse opened the chest, rummaging through it and scooping out a few diamonds. "Diamonds, score!" Jesse exclaimed, eyes lighting up as she took out four the turquoise gems, before smiling at them with a small smile. "I'll be sure to save a couple for Petra," she added, placing a few inside her pocket, next to the journal.</p><p>Going over to the crafting table, Jesse stood there, contemplating it, before placing a stick at the bottom middle slot, then two diamonds above it. The ingredients shivered together into a sword, Jesse smiling as she lifted the weapon. "I've never had a diamond weapon before!" she exclaimed, waving it carefully.</p><p>Ivor smiled at her excitement, dark blue eyes glowing with faint amusement. "Just wait until you enchant it," he said, gesturing at the anvil.</p><p>Jesse set the sword down, then pulled out the book, placing it next to the sword. The two of them shivered together, to form a glowing blade with a silver handle, which floated into the air. It was oddly beautiful for a tool of destruction.</p><p>Jesse took the floating blade, marveling at how <em>light</em> it felt. "Behold!" she joked, waving the sword in the air, "my enchanted diamond sword!"</p><p>Reuben let out an approving squeal.</p><p>"Yes, that should do the job nicely," Ivor agreed, resting a hand on Jesse's shoulder and making the spider hybrid beam at him, making Ivor hesitate, "You know, I had... a lot of extra time. So I designed some armor specifically for you hybrids."</p><p>Jesse dropped her arm with the sword, eyes widening as she turned to stare at Ivor. Reuben let out a little oink as well.</p><p>"I didn't have your sizes, though- and I never had the chance to go back and see you after.. well, you know," Ivor looked down at the floor, before back up at Jesse, "so I simply... went with the size I normally make armor with. They... well, they <em>should</em> fit you, now that you're older."</p><p>And he held out a jet-black set of armor with six arm-holes, a red hourglass on the back and red designs on the front. The boots were black except for the red bottoms, and the entire thing of armor was etched with red designs.</p><p>Jesse stared, mouth slightly open, before her eyes flickered up to Ivor. "You should become a clothing designer."</p><p>Ivor snorted at that, holding it out to her. "Come on, take it."</p><p>Jesse grinned and took the armor, pulling it on. The armor was light and didn't impede any movement whatsoever, yet still was strong enough that when Jesse tapped her chest, she could barely feel it. "Okay, I was half joking before, but now I think I'm serious- you'd make a killing if you were a clothing designer," Jesse said, looking up at Ivor.</p><p>Ivor ruffled her hair, making her swat him away with a giggle. "I think I'll stick with potion-making, thanks. I have some for your friends, too."</p><p>Jesse gave Ivor a warm smile and nodded a bit, holding the sword in her now-gloved hands. "Thanks, Ivor."</p><p>He nodded with another smile, and the two of them exited the room.</p><p>Jesse walked through a set of doors, back into the room with the Ender crystals. Her friends looked up at her, Olivia's eyes widening. "Nice sword. And nice armor!" she let out a low whistle, crossing her arms with an impressed look.</p><p>"Ivor should become a clothing designer," Jesse said, smirking at the potionologist.</p><p>"I have some for you, too," Ivor said, ignoring the joke and the snickers at said joke and holding out the armor.</p><p>"Oh, nice!" Olivia took her armor, and Lukas took his, too.</p><p>After a minute or two, Olivia was dressed in all black, except her armor was embellished with violet, and the back had nothing on it. The legs of the armor were jet black, and the gloves were also plain black. Except for the chestplate, everything was black. It was definitely more of a stealth design.</p><p>Lukas wore a set of gold armor, except the shoulderpads were dark gray, and the pants. The boots were gold, still, and the gloves were also gold, although the fingertips were exposed so that his claws could shoot out and retract at will.</p><p>"I see what you mean, Ivor would be rich if he was a clothing designer," Lukas remarked, twisting and turning to admire the armor.</p><p>Olivia looked pleased at hers, too. "Yeah. This is really well made," she agreed with Lukas.</p><p>Jesse smiled at her friends, as Gabriel and Soren came up to them, "Let's get back to Soren's fortress and see how the Witherstorms are doing against those Endermen."</p><p>Ivor pulled out some potions as he approached the group. Jesse peered at them, before her eyes lit up and she looked up at the former Order member, "Ah! These are potions of teleportation!"</p><p>He nodded, a small smile on his face. "Very good, Jesse," he praised, "I'm glad to see you remember some of the things that I taught you." He passed them around, Jesse clinging onto the small glass bottle, all of their eyes meeting as they stood there, facing each other.</p><p>"Well, let's go," Lukas said, and with that all of them pulled the cork out and tilted the bottle back, drinking in the potion.</p><p>For a moment, nothing happened. Then Jesse felt a tingling feeling spreading down from the top of her head, down to the tips of her fingers and to the bottoms of her feet, as if bubbles were popping all over her.</p><p>And then they vanished from the lab.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0064"><h2>64. Return to the Fortress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse's mouth fell open as they appeared on the land again, Lukas nearly tripping and falling over from the sensation of teleporting.</p><p>The entire top of Soren's mountain had vanished, and the Witherstorms were bigger than ever before. They were so big that they'd made the old Witherstorm look like a baby in comparison.</p><p>"<em>Wow</em>," said Lukas.</p><p>"Shouldn't the Endermen have destroyed the Witherstorm by now?" Gabriel wondered, staring at the Witherstorms in confusion, "or am I just confused again?"</p><p>"No, it's not just you," Ivor was shaking his head, also staring at the Witherstorms, "something's wrong."</p><p>"Jesse!" And Jesse had barely enough time to turn before she was nearly slammed into the dirt by Axel's enthusiastic greeting hug, his arms wrapping around the small female to the point where Jesse felt as if she hadn't been wearing armor, her ribs would've cracked.</p><p>"Hi Axel," she squeaked.</p><p>He dropped her to the ground, admiring her outfit, then Olivia's, then Lukas's. "Nice freaking armor, by the way," he complimented.</p><p>"You get some too," Ivor said, holding out the armor. Axel let out a loud, rather happy gasp, before taking the armor and putting it on as fast as he could. The green of the armor was solid, and he had a sort of fishbowl thing as a helmet. But the boots were mottled, and the pants were a mottled green. The mottled green faded about halfway up the body.</p><p>"Nice armor yourself, Axel," Jesse grinned at her friend, who grinned right back, before her expression went a little more serious. "Do you still have the amulet?" she asked him.</p><p>Axel pulled it out easily, making Jesse wonder how exactly he'd done that with his armor on before deciding that she didn't really care. "Safe and sound. That's not the problem."</p><p>"What is?" Jesse asked, tentatively.</p><p>"The Endermen... they're not angry enough. I mean, some are-" Jesse glanced up to see like four Endermen ripping blocks off of the Witherstorm, "but most of them are just standing around, moving blocks. You know, being Endermen."</p><p>"Blast!" Soren hissed. Jesse got the feeling that the architect wanted to use a stronger term.</p><p>"They've done a pretty good job of keeping the main Witherstorm busy," Axel continued, glancing over his shoulder like he was expecting a tractor beam to suck them all up in the next minute. "But one of the smaller ones started attacking us. Magnus ran off to fight that thing, all by himself!"</p><p>"What?! He did what?!" Soren shouted, eyes widening. Ivor's eyes widened as well. "He's fighting a Witherstorm <em>by himself?!</em>"</p><p>Gabriel stepped up, making them all look at the warrior. "If a fellow member of the Order of the... of the... uhm..."</p><p>"Order of the Stone," Jesse prompted the frowning Gabriel.</p><p>Gabriel nodded his thanks. "Is out there fighting... then I belong out there, too."</p><p>"Wait, you're not about to do what I think you're about to do, are you- <em>Gabriel!</em>" Ivor snapped as Gabriel charged forward, running down the hill towards the Endermen. "Oh, Notch, I'm not letting that idiot get himself killed! Gabriel! Get back here!" And he raced after his friend.</p><p>Soren bit his lip, before rushing after them. "Both of you, come back! Without the Command Block, none of stand a chance! ... and yet, I'm joining you two. I have no idea why." His voice was lost after another moment or so in the chaos.</p><p>"Why do they need the Command Block?" Axel asked.</p><p>"The Order of the Stone are frauds," Jesse responded promptly, "all of them."</p><p>"It's a long story- one we do NOT have time for," Olivia interrupted before Axel could explode with curiosity. The burly male deflated with a pout. "Fine."</p><p>"We'll tell you later. By the way, you guys didn't check on Petra and Ellegaard, right?"</p><p>Axel shook his head. "No, we came straight back here."</p><p>"They're still in that cave... I hope they'll be alright," Lukas said, in a quieter, rather subdued voice.</p><p>"They will be," Jesse assured him, "as long as we destroy the Command Block. We need to find a way for me to use this," and she brandished her enchanted sword.</p><p>Axel's eyes widened. "WHOA. That is, without question, the coolest thing I've ever seen!"</p><p>"Come on, let's go kick some Command Block butt," Jesse said, fist tightening on her sword.</p><p>Everyone gave her a nod, eyes shining with determination.</p><p>And they walked straight towards the Storm.</p><p>"We need to get the Endermen to focus and attack the Witherstorms, if we have any chance of getting to the Command Block," Olivia spoke, crossing her arms and looking at the crowd of Endermen.</p><p>"Can Endermen focus?" Axel wondered.</p><p>"Olivia, can't you just ask the Endermen to attack the Witherstorm? Like, I dunno, an Endergeneral?" Lukas suggested.</p><p>He wasn't the only disappointed one as Olivia shook her head, a funny look on her face. "Endermen don't take orders from anyone- not even other Endermen. The ONE person who they DO take orders from doesn't even exist- it's a children's story, made up to scare the pants off children on Halloween. I could ask a couple, but they might not listen, so even then that'd be a risky endeavor."</p><p>"So that's a no go," Axel summed up.</p><p>"Pretty much."</p><p>Jesse frowned and looked at the Endermen. A tractor beam shifted and landed on one of them, and the head shot up as it started screeching with rage, teleporting out of sight. It appeared on the massive cloud that was the Witherstorm and started ripping blocks off.</p><p>"The tractor beam!" the four friends chorused, looking at each other.</p><p>"That's it, make them chase you into the tractor beam!" Olivia shouted, all of them splitting up and rushing off to do their task.</p><p>Jesse shook her head with a little sigh as they disappeared among the Endermen, following a little ways behind. "Why must saving the world be so <em>stressful?</em>"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0065"><h2>65. Ticking off Endermen</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse skidded to a stop in front of Enderman, and did something that she'd never tried to do before and probably wouldn't do ever again after today, with maybe the exception of Olivia. She looked at it right in the eyes.</p><p>The Enderman screeched, Jesse whirling around and making a circle of the tall monsters surround her.</p><p>Jesse ducked out of reach of one of the long black arms and tore away just as the tractor beam landed on them, sucking up six of the monsters at once.</p><p>Jesse started running away from another tractor beam, which sucked up multiple Endermen. Running up to another one, she snatched a stone block from that Enderman. "How do you like that?" she shouted, hoping to enrage it.</p><p>It definitely worked. The Enderman started screaming with rage, a tractor beam shining down on it as Jesse darted off to the side, making her way through the horde of Endermen, waving her eyes and yelling, attracting the attention of several. She glanced back and let out a shriek as she realized that there was a tractor beam following her. "Crap crap crap!"</p><p>Rushing to her left, an Enderman tried to hit her, but she ducked under the hit as two more of its friends joined them, screeching. The tractor beam sucked them up as well.</p><p>Jesse sprinted, and sprinted, and sprinted, chancing a glance up every couple of seconds, relief flooding through her to see Endermen on the Witherstorm, ripping blocks off of it. She was fairly certain she also spotted Olivia among them, yelling at the Endermen to keep them enraged and ripping blocks off herself.</p><p>Jesse pumped her fist in the air, too out of breath to really respond, darting around tractor beams as they fell on the Endermen.</p><p>Jesse sprinted up to an Enderman who was wandering around near a tractor beam, and did something that no sane person would've done. She shoved it with all of her might, causing it to fall into the tractor beam. The Enderman turned to screech at her in rage, but it was sucked up before it could.</p><p>"Axel, are those snowballs?!" Jesse exclaimed as she ran up to the burly male, running through the horde to avoid getting attacked.</p><p>"Yeah, I found them near the cave- here!" and Axel passed a couple to her before rushing off to tick off some more Endermen. Jesse tossed it in the air before taking aim and aiming at three Endermen that just happened to be standing there, minding their own business. "How do you like this?!" she shouted, chucking it at them.</p><p>The three Endermen teleported, reappearing right in front of Jesse, screeching loudly, just as an indigo tractor beam closed in. Jesse launched herself away, landing on all eights and scrambling away as the tall monsters were taken away, more and more getting enraged and sucked up by the Witherstorm.</p><p>Jesse dodged to the left as another tractor beam barreled towards her, and looked up at the monsters, making them screech at her, before bolting, the tractor beam chasing Jesse and sucking up the tall black monsters that were also chasing Jesse. "Come and get me!" Jesse hissed furiously at them, making more and more get enraged and follow her.</p><p>"Reuben, you mind giving me some help?" Jesse called out to her little pink pig upon spotting him. Reuben bobbed his head up and down in a squealing nod.</p><p>Jesse adjusted her path towards another Enderman, which was standing in front of a tractor beam, Reuben moving so that he was behind the Enderman. Lunging to her feet, Jesse used all six of her arms and, loudly yelling, shoved the Enderman as hard as she could, knocking it over so that it stumbled over Reuben and tripped right in the tractor beam.</p><p>It was sucked up, even as it gave her a furious screech. "Nice one, Reuben!" Jesse cheered to her little pig, before turning and running in the opposite direction.</p><p>Two more Endermen appeared, but Jesse dropped to all eights and charged right at them, bolting right under their reaching long black arms, a tractor beam shining on them and sucking those Endermen up.</p><p>Jesse dodged and ducked, more and more Endermen getting sucked up into the Witherstorm's tractor beams. She moved in strange ways. She used only four limbs. She did a flip over a couple of Endermen. She crawled on a wall.</p><p>Soon, she was back where her friends were all convening, Olivia waving furiously. She looked tired, and her arms were stiff and locked, but her eyes were sparkling with joy. "Jesse, look! It's working! That hole's big enough to get inside of!" She pointed, and Jesse saw a gaping hole in the side of the main Witherstorm. She was fairly certain that she'd spotted Soren, Ivor, and Gabriel ducking and diving around with one of the smaller Witherstorms, but she wasn't sure.</p><p>"Now we just need to find you a way up," Axel said, looking up.</p><p>Jesse bit her lip, before turning to Axel. "Axel, I'm going to stand on your back in a second."</p><p>"Okay," Axel said unsurely.</p><p>"I want you to blow up."</p><p>"WHAT?!"</p><p>The yell was not just from Axel, but from Olivia and Lukas as well.</p><p>"Trust me! I have an idea," Jesse said urgently-</p><p>"Axel, watch out!"</p><p>Axel let out a scream as a tractor beam shone down on him, Olivia grabbing onto his leg and tightening her grip, even as she started screeching, and Jesse wrapped string around Olivia's leg and yanked. "Lukas, I need a hand here!" she cried out to her friend.</p><p>Lukas gave her a small grin. "I think I can do better than that."</p><p>He whipped back to the Witherstorm, and waved furiously. "Hey, Witherstorm!" he shouted, "over here!"</p><p>"What are you doing?! You're going to get yourself killed!" Jesse squeaked.</p><p>Lukas pulled out some fireworks and started setting them off, creating rainbows of explosions in the sky, and distracting the tractor beam so that it travelled away from them, letting the other three collide on the ground roughly.</p><p>"Olivia, keep the Endermen angry!" Jesse told her friend, who nodded before bleeping out of sight.</p><p>Lukas kept firing fireworks, giving her a little salute as he rooted through his pocket for more. "I'll keep it distracted for as long as I can. Eyes on me, ya great big bully!" he screeched at the Witherstorm.</p><p>"You can do this, okay? We all know you can," Olivia called down, her voice very faint.</p><p>Axel and Lukas nodded their agreement to that, giving her a little salute.</p><p>"Thanks, guys!" And Jesse jumped onto Axel's back. "Ready, Axel?"</p><p>"Sure," Axel said, unsurely, and he began to flash white.</p><p>Reuben hopped into Jesse's arms, making her eyes widen. "Reuben, this is no place for a-"</p><p>Axel exploded, making Jesse's lower arms tighten around him as she went flying into the air, eyes widening as she fired a strand of silk at the gaping hole in the Witherstorm. "-PIIIIIIIG!" she screamed, retracting the silk, and she went flying into the gaping hole in the Witherstorm.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0066"><h2>66. Well Then</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse bounced, hugging Reuben tightly, as the world around her turned purple and pink, bouncing through a miniature gorge, feeling herself bounce down a couple edges before tumbling and rolling to a stop.</p><p>Panting, Jesse sat up, giving her little Reuben, her little pig, a stern look. "Reuben, don't surprise me like that. You could've gotten hurt if I'd dropped you," she scolded gently, but she wasn't really all that mad about it.</p><p>Reuben gave an apologizing squeal, and Jesse's gaze softened. "On the other hand, I'm glad not to be here alone."</p><p>Fondling his ears, Jesse managed to get to her feet. "Just stay close, okay?"</p><p>Walking through the huge cavernous Witherstorm, Jesse looked around and shuddered at the sight of people frozen, their eyes blank white and glowing purple as they stayed frozen in terror. Ohh, how much she hoped the Witherstorm didn't have some sort of demonic immune system.</p><p>Jesse shivered as she looked through the people, before suddenly the whole place shook, as if sensing Jesse was inside and she couldn't be there. Yep, looks as though the Witherstorm had an immune system.</p><p>The Witherstorm suddenly <em>turned</em>, making Jesse cry out and shoot out some webs to keep herself from toppling painfully to the ground, grabbing Reuben close to her chest as they roughly collided with the rather warm ground. Looking up, Jesse locked eyes with a withered man, and shivers tore down her spine as she recognized him as the butcher from Endercon.</p><p>Reuben let out a terrified squeal, galloping away.</p><p>"Ah! No, Reuben, come back!" Jesse cried, rushing after her little pink pig, "Wait up!"</p><p>Suddenly, the Witherstorm turned again, making Jesse lose her sense of gravity and up and down before slamming into the 'ground', landing on her stomach and getting to her feet, more warily than before. Her eyes widened.</p><p>In front of her, under some bizarre archway, was the Command Block.</p><p>Jesse took a few tentative steps, before running full out towards the Command Block, even as the whole cavern started shaking again, Jesse dropping to all eights in case the whole place turned again, scuttling towards the block. Thankfully, there was to be no more turning, but Jesse didn't let her guard down.</p><p>She slowed to more of a crawl as Reuben caught up to her, giving the girl a worried whine. Jesse looked up at the Command Block, sitting on a bit of a raised platform. The archway looked like the Witherstorm's tentacles, and they were in what looked like the very heart of the monster (gross), the ground littered with purple dust, and people on the walls.</p><p>Jesse slowly approached, feeling tremors rattle through the ground as she climbed the raised floor. "There it is," she whispered to Reuben, before her eyes traveled to the glowing block. "We meet again, Command Block."</p><p>Jesse straightened up, hoping that the ground wouldn't turn, drawing her glowing sword slowly. "Now it's time to destroy you."</p><p>Jesse crawled up onto the raised platform, fist tightening on the sword hilt, before letting out a loud shout and slashing at the Command Block. White sparks spat out upon contact, the Command Block cracking but not quite breaking. The Witherstorm let out a roar of pain, and Jesse dropped back to all eights as the ground shook again. The archway suddenly peeled apart into six different tentacles, Reuben letting out a loud squeal of fright as the world started shaking violently.</p><p>"Mother of Notch," Jesse whispered, before ducking a tentacle, but even with all eight limbs on the ground the violent tremors managed to knock her back off the platform, as it rose higher in the air. More tentacles began to come from the walls. Jesse was pretty sure that if someone were to snap a picture of her right now, her face would be whiter than snow.</p><p>"Oh Notch, oh Notch oh <em>frickin'</em> Notch," Jesse whimpered, her hand tightening on the sword that she actually worried that she was going to break it, as another tentacle slashed towards Jesse and Reuben, from the walls this time. Jesse scooped Reuben up and lunged out of the way, rolling to the side to avoid another tentacle, before lunging back to her feet and dodging. "Oh <em>Notch</em>," she repeated.</p><p>"Reuben, whatever happens, we have to destroy the Command Block! Okay?" Jesse asked, looking down at her little pink pig.</p><p>Upon hearing that, Reuben let out angry squeals, turning to the tentacle from before, like a piggy version of a barking dog.</p><p>Jesse beamed at her sweet little pig, whipping out her sword, and turned to a tentacle, slicing out with it, cleaving the massive thing right in half and leaving the top part to wriggle about wildly on the ground.</p><p>Jesse whipped around and destroyed another tentacle as it tried to hit Jesse. "It's doing everything it can to protect the Command Block," Jesse mumbled softly, before her gaze softened, and she shut her eyes, taking a deep breath.</p><p>Her eyes opened, blazing red.</p><p>"<em>Which means I have to do everything I can to destroy it.</em>"</p><p>Jesse ran back to the platform, taking a running jump and landing on the platform, before whipping around and doing the crabwalk to duck one tentacle, before whipping back to her feet and using the sword to cleave one of the tentacles in half, followed by another one as it tried to lob her head off. Jesse slashed another one before it could even get within striking distance.</p><p>Whipping back to the Command Block, Jesse brought her sword down on it, sending white-hot sparks spitting everywhere and causing another crack to appear in the incredibly damaged Command Block, but still not destroyed.</p><p>Jesse let out a scream as the Witherstorm decided to turn UPSIDE DOWN, smacking against the walls and finding herself flat on her back on the ceiling (or, what used to be the ceiling), the Command Block above her.</p><p>"... well <em>f**k</em> then," Jesse said, finally.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0067"><h2>67. My Reuben</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This thing just won't die, will it," Jesse sighed as she got up, looking up at the upside down block. "Okay, new plan," she said to Reuben. "I'm gonna climb up there," and she looked at a wall, "and use one of the tentacle thingies to swing towards the Command Block."</p><p>Jesse leaned down and touched Reuben on the top of the head, eyes softening. "Stay here, Reuben. I mean it this time."</p><p>And she started climbing the walls, the cracks being too small for the human eye but looking big as chasms to Jesse, her fingers finding handholds and somehow able to stay in them.</p><p>Jesse clambered onto a high ledge, this one completely black. Jesse slipped a bit, but her lower arms were still good enough to propel herself onto the surface. The Witherstorm gave another roar, everything shaking again. Jesse clutched onto the ledge she was standing on.</p><p>Which suddenly started moving.</p><p>Jesse let out a shriek and toppled from the <em>new Witherstorm head.</em></p><p>"What in- how is this possible?!" Jesse gaped at the head, before turning her head to see another one rumble through the other side of the room, tractor beams switching on and roving through the room.</p><p>Jesse dodged to the side to avoid one, Reuben galloping up to her. "Reuben! I told you to stay put!" she cried out, before she had to scoop him up and barrel out of the way to avoid both tractor beams.</p><p>Jesse skidded out of the way and nearly fell into the hole that was forming. She chanced a glance down, and felt her mouth go dryer than the desert biome when she saw the land below. It was a long, long, LONG way down.</p><p>Swallowing nervously, Jesse watched as a tractor beam lifted a severed tentacle into the air, before glancing at the Command Block. Cracks ran over the whole thing, and it was pretty evident that one last good hit would break the thing for good.</p><p>Jesse's eyes suddenly lit up, an idea forming in her head. It was a bad idea, but it was the only one she had. "I think I know exactly how I'm gonna get up there," she said, thoughtfully. And her eyes traveled slowly to the glowing indigo beam. "The tractor beam."</p><p>Reuben let out a loud squeal at that, and Jesse set her pig down, before waving furiously at the Witherstorm heads. "Hey, you!" she shouted, before giving Reuben a glance. "Just watch my back, okay Reuben? I'll be counting on you." She whipped back around to the Witherstorm, feeling her stomach practically BOIL in dread. "Bet you can't catch me!"</p><p>The tractor beam landed right on her.</p><p>Jesse let out a shriek as she flew into the air, feeling weightless and her stomach dropping to the tips of her toes as she soared into the air, quickly tightening her grip on her sword.</p><p>The moment she was in reach of the Witherstorm's head, she slashed as hard as she could, slashing right through the eye and cutting off the tractor beam, catching onto the edge and crawling on in great haste. Jesse gulped as she turned around, hands shaking, as the tentacles thrashed to and fro, the head beneath her moving side to side weakly as if trying to shake her off. Jesse didn't dare look down, as she backed up a step, and then ran with all her might.</p><p>Kicking off the edge, she managed to snag a tentacle with a free hand, but before she could do anything to even try to hit the Command Block, a tentacle seized her and sent the sword flying from her hand. It clattered onto the ground and landed near the gaping hole in the ground. Jesse gasped and shook her head furiously. The sword was too far for her to reach, and she had no time to make mistakes. "Reuben, I need your help!" she screamed down to the pink pig, "Remember we used to play fetch?"</p><p>Reuben perked up, picking up the super-sword in his mouth, and beginning to run towards Jesse.</p><p>The tentacle swung Jesse close to the Witherstorm head, a bit too close for comfort. Jesse kicked and thrashed, keeping an eye on her little pig as he ran onto a higher tentacle, running towards Jesse below him. "Jump! I'll catch you!"</p><p>Reuben did so without any hesitation, leaping from the tentacle and Jesse managing to catch Reuben by the hoof, both of them dangling over the abyss, joy dancing in her eyes at how brave her little pig was. "You did it!" Jesse cried out, "I knew I could count on you!"</p><p>Jesse took the sword out of the pig's mouth with her free hand. "Okay, it's time to put an end to this thing, once and-" She was cut off as the Witherstorm head lashed out, massive teeth clamping down on Reuben's back leg.</p><p>"Reuben!" Jesse screamed, turning back to her little pig, <em>her </em>little Reuben, the only thought tearing through her numb, horrified head being: <em>This thing's got my Reuben!</em></p><p>The Witherstorm head engaged in a deadly game of tug-of war, Jesse refusing to release her Reuben and the Witherstorm head clinging on just as tightly. "No, no, no, Reuben, Reuben, hold, hold on, okay," Jesse pleaded, and suddenly the Witherstorm's teeth slipped off.</p><p>Just as Jesse's grip also slipped.</p><p>For a second, the only thing Jesse could hear was the screaming, the screaming, as she drew a hand back and fired a web- just as the tentacle holding her thrashed sideways, and it was Gabriel all over again, except a hundred times worse, because it was <em>her </em>Reuben, and why wasn't the screaming stopping, and why wasn't the world stopping so she could catch her little pig?</p><p>And then Reuben fell out of sight, even as Jesse tried to catch him again, even as the string flew after the little pig, he dropped through the gaping hole.</p><p>Jesse screamed again, and the rawness of her throat made screaming hell, but she still screamed, and she realized at the same time that it had been her screaming that whole time. "REUBEN!"</p><p>There was no answer.</p><p>Jesse felt something stirring in her chest, and her vision turned red. Both eyes blazed like rubies as her fist clenched on the hilt of the super-weapon, fangs appearing in her mouth, as she let out another scream, one of rage this time, one that no one could've ever expected to make, as she whirled around, twisting in the Witherstorm's grip, and swung the sword with a strength that could only be described as superhuman.</p><p>The sword's blade shattered as it cleaved into the Command Block, sending shards of metal flying everywhere, a couple grazing her face.</p><p>Jesse didn't care one atom.</p><p>The Command Block <em>exploded</em> in a shower of white sparks, the Witherstorm head going limp and the tractor beam vanishing, everything flickering out so that it was dark.</p><p>The tentacle loosened and dropped Jesse, making gravity lose its hold on her for a moment, as Jesse plummeted towards the earth far below.</p><p>She probably was going to die. Her life should've flashed before her eyes or something.</p><p>But for some reason, the only thought that ran through her head was that she hadn't been fast enough to save <em>her</em> little Reuben, <em>her</em> little pig, <em>her</em> sweet innocent pink pig who was one of her best friends, <em>her Reuben.</em></p><p>
  <em>I'm so sorry.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I'm never fast enough.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I didn't mean to let you go.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I didn't mean for you to fall.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Please be okay.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Please.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I don't want you to be hurt.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You're my little pig, okay?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My little Reuben.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0068"><h2>68. Gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse was suspended in the air for a moment, before she felt something cool wrap around her as she crashed into the water, laying there for a minute, stunned, before stroking to the surface and breaking it, gasping for air. The Endermen were teleporting away at the sight of light, hissing angrily, as the sun came out, the massive black clouds that had been the Witherstorm vanishing. It was as though that whole thing hadn't even happened.</p><p>"There you are!" Jesse turned to see Olivia and Axel running towards her, twin grins fixed on their faces.</p><p>"Jesse, are you okay?" Axel asked, coming to a stop, "We thought you were..." he faltered, before picking up again, more softly, "Well, we didn't think you'd made it."</p><p>Jesse's mouth opened and shut for a moment, before she regained power over her vocal cords. "Where's Reuben?" Jesse demanded, her face white with fear.</p><p>Olivia looked bewildered. "I thought he was with you!" she exclaimed, worry starting to shine in her eyes, Lukas running up to Jesse with a grin. "Jesse! You did it! You actually did it!"</p><p>Jesse looked at Lukas, not able to say something, her face snow white. Slowly he seemed to realize something was wrong, his smile fading and his ears drooping worriedly. "Jesse? Are you okay?" he asked, softly.</p><p>A soft cry hit Jesse's ears, and she whipped around-</p><p>Her heart hit bedrock.</p><p>Reuben was lying on his side several feet away, pink skin practically snow white. "<em>Reuben!</em>" Jesse felt a sob building up in her chest, tears beginning to blind her as she ran towards her little pig, coming to a stop right next to him, coming to her knees. "Reuben," she repeated, hot tears pouring down her cheeks, as she frantically tried to wipe them away.</p><p>Reuben let out a soft little whine, his sides rising as he struggled to breathe properly. To breathe at all. His bones had been broken by the fall, Jesse could tell.</p><p>Reuben turned his head to look at her, brown eyes filled with sadness as he looked at her. Jesse reached out a shaking hand, watching as the world blurred and warped through the tears that refused to fall, that she refused to let fall, because Reuben <em>hated</em> it when she cried, and she didn't want him to see her cry and have that be the last thing he ever saw.</p><p>"Reuben?" Her voice was a whisper, through her strangled vocal cords that couldn't say anything above that volume. "You're a hero, you know that? You just helped me save everyone, you know that, right?" Her hands were starting to shake, she was starting to shake, tears were rising in her eyes, and she was doing her best to keep them back. "Come on, please-" Her voice caught, before she managed to finish, "please just say something."</p><p>Reuben tried to get to her feet, but he hadn't even put one hoof on the ground before he fell back down, whining softly and sadly at not being able to comfort Jesse. He just looked so <em>tired</em>- as if he'd just spent the whole day playing and running and laughing with Jesse, and was now wanting to nap while Jesse and Axel and Olivia chatted and laughed and planned for next year's Endercon.</p><p>"It's okay, boy," Jesse managed, more tears coming down her face.</p><p>But it wasn't okay.</p><p>This wasn't okay.</p><p>"I'm here, okay?" Jesse tried to stop crying, to no avail. "I'm here, I promise, okay?" She reached out and touched him, gently fondling his ears as more tears blinded her, choked her, poured down her cheeks, down her face, shining like diamonds in her eyes.</p><p>Because he <em>couldn't</em> die, her little Reuben just <em>couldn't</em> die, because he was <em>her</em> Reuben. Her little pig.</p><p>"I'm sorry," Jesse whispered, her other hands clenched into fists in her lap, "I'm so, so sorry, Reuben."</p><p>Reuben let out another whine, nudging her hand with his nose gently, and the gentle contact made more tears come down her face, her chest tightening so much that it felt like a balloon, and any second it would pop and burst apart.</p><p>It hurt. She wasn't the one who'd landed on the ground. She shouldn't have to hurt like this. She'd rather trade places with Reuben, because at least then her little pig would be okay, he wouldn't be lying on the ground looking so tired, he wouldn't be lying on the ground at all.</p><p>He would be okay.</p><p>Jesse might not.</p><p>Jesse reached out and carefully fondled his ears, the only part she could touch without causing her little pig pain. "I love you, okay?" she said, softly, voice shaking and quivering and her entire body shaking like mad. "You're my Reuben. Okay?"</p><p>Reuben let out another soft whine, nudging her hand again at that, before his head drooped to the floor, exhausted by the effort, and the little pig went completely still.</p><p>Jesse watched the world go even blurrier than before as he disappeared, replaced by the standard drop pigs dropped: a pork chop.</p><p>All that time the two of them had spent together, Jesse and Reuben, two friends who had always sat together and played together, reduced to a piece of meat.</p><p>She moved her hand slowly and took ahold of it, staring down at it with more tears going down her face.</p><p>"Jesse," and Jesse felt Lukas's hand on her shoulder. She didn't know when he'd gotten there.</p><p>She wasn't sure she cared.</p><p>"I am..." A pause. "I am so sorry."</p><p>Jesse finally let her head drop as she cried, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs that she'd been repressing with all of her might for the past several minutes, her chest aching as she cried and hugged the pork chop to her test. A pair of arms wrapped around her, and then another, and then another.</p><p>And for several more minutes, the four hybrids stood in an intertwined hug that couldn't have been broken in a thousand years.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0069"><h2>69. The New Order of the Stone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>ONE WEEK LATER...</strong>
</p><p>Jesse stared sadly at the banner with Reuben's face on it and the flowers and saplings around it, her hands in her pockets so that she could feel the things she'd stuffed inside, before turning around and giving Axel a sad smile.</p><p>He smiled at his friend, giving her shoulder a squeeze, before they walked up towards a stage, through a crowd of people who were clapping and cheering. Jesse and Olivia shared a shrug and a shy smile, Petra squeezing Jesse's shoulder as they kept walking, Jesse waving at a couple people.</p><p>Spotting Lukas with his friends in the crowd, Jesse raised her hand and waved, smiling. Lukas waved back, his ears and his tail flicking. The other Ocelots glanced at Lukas's tail, his ears, his new eyes, before turning his gaze away.</p><p>Jesse and the others climbed onto the stage, Jesse walking up to Gabriel.</p><p>Gabriel gave Jesse a sad smile, before whispering to the girl, "People used to look at me like that once, Jesse. Having my memory restored has both been a blessing... and a curse. Perhaps they deserve to know the truth about the Order."</p><p>Soren nodded agreement from where he was standing with Magnus and Ellegaard, Ivor standing towards the back of the stage, away from his friends. "Yes. All those lies we told them... perhaps we should come clean?"</p><p>Jesse gave the crowd a glance, before nodding at the Order. "You're right. They do deserve to know."</p><p>The four Order members gave Jesse a look, before they nodded and walked to the edge of the stage. Jesse stepped back, twisting her hands together nervously as Gabriel started speaking.</p><p>"We all owe a great debt to Jesse and her friends," Gabriel began.</p><p>Soren picked it up. "But we owe a debt to you people as well. Which is why..."</p><p>The two of them shared an uncomfortable glance, before Ellegaard picked up, "Which is why we need to tell you something. About the Order."</p><p>The four Order members looked back at Ivor, whose arms were crossed. Slowly, his head dipped in a nod, a gentler smile coming over his face. The four friends turned back to the crowd, Magnus saying, quietly, "The Order of the Stone... isn't what you thought it was."</p><p>Gabriel looked at the floor. "We were... frauds. We used the Command Block to falsify our legacy."</p><p>Enraged cries from the crowd, as Soren finished, softly, "We were no heroes."</p><p>"So it is time for the world to celebrate new heroes," Ellegaard picked up again, "<em>Real</em> heroes."</p><p>Nothing. The crowd was silent. Not even a cheer.</p><p>Jesse stepped forward, putting a hand on Gabriel and Soren's shoulders. "But they did do one thing to help us out immensely. One thing that wouldn't have been possible without their help."</p><p>The Order members all looked at Jesse, confusion dancing in their eyes.</p><p>Jesse smiled slightly, as another memory clicked back into place. "They were the motivation for us to escape."</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"We have to know what happened to them!" Lukas crossed his arms, glaring at Axel. His tail was bushy, and it was flicking around. It didn't take a scientist to tell that he was angry. "We can't just sit and wait for them!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"But then what would we do?!" Axel argued back, hissing slightly audible in his voice, "Just blow up the wall and run away?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We've never tried that, actually," Jesse interjected, spreading out her six arms so that the two of them wouldn't have another hissing fit at each other, "and with us being hybrids, it can't be that hard to run away. We could just use our abilities!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A short silence, everyone looking at each other as if expecting another idea.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Well," Petra said, slowly, "that's true. We've never TRIED running away."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse nodded, her head bobbing up and down, "and what if they need us somehow? We can't just leave them behind!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Olivia nodded, curls bouncing around. "Yeah! We need to go find them!" she agreed, eyes wide.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse looked around at her friends. "So we escape tonight. Okay? Everyone who agrees says 'Aye!'"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>There was a resounding 'aye' around the whole room.</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Without their befriending us, and without the time they spent with us, we wouldn't have wanted to leave," Jesse finished, squeezing their shoulders, "and for that, at least, I applaud them." She then shot a web at Ivor without looking at him and dragged him to the front too. "<em>All</em> of them."</p><p>A grudging round of applause from the crowd at that, before the Order gave Jesse grateful smiles and then walked off again, the cheers growing louder.</p><p>"Um... I know you think I'm up here because I saved the world. But the truth is, I couldn't have done it alone. Absolutely not. I had my friends with me. My <em>best</em> friends," and Jesse gave the hybrids a smile. "Axel... Olivia... Petra..." she saluted playfully to the ocelot hybrid in the crowd, "Lukas... they all stood by my side, right from the start. And, they made fun of me, when I deserved it," Jesse chuckled a bit, "but that's how we are."</p><p>"Darn right we are!" Axel nodded.</p><p>"And it's... crazy, to think that my friends and I started out in a treehouse, not even knowing what we really are... and now look!" she spread all six hands, a smile on her face, "we've been to some of the weirdest places in the world! I mean, we went to the FAR LANDS!" The crowd started cheering again, "there was this huge wall, and maze, and.. well, you just kinda had to be there," and she smiled back at her friends. They returned it.</p><p>"And yeah, we're hybrids. But in the end, it was the exact thing that saved our lives, and the world," Jesse added, looking down at her arms, before smiling and putting her lowest set on her hips, the middle set crossing over her midriff.</p><p>"But in the end... what really mattered to me was Reuben. He was probably just a pig to most people, but... he was my best friend. He was so much more," Jesse said, her voice dropping as she cupped her elbows, "and in the end, he's the one who helped me save the world."</p><p>Jesse raised a hand in the air, pumping it once with a small smile, "For Reuben!"</p><p>Cheers rose in the air, loud and resounding and deafening. Jesse winced with a small smile and covered her ears as the Order came back on stage, quietly. Magnus reached into his pocket and taking out a shining, purple-gold star that seemed to shine brighter than the sun, saying dramatically, "Jesse, this is the Nether Star that dropped when the Witherstorm was destroyed."</p><p>The engineer rolled her eyes. "Nice narrator voice," she told Magnus softly.</p><p>"Thank you," Magnus whispered back, before raising it again, "You wanna do the honors?"</p><p>Jesse turned to a structure made of iron, gold, obsidian, stained glass that was behind her. Stepping forward, to the dark blue block in the center of the structure, she set it down. She quickly backed up as it started spinning, before all eight stained glass blocks burst into glowing light, sending beams of red, green, white, turquoise, and blue light soaring into the sky.</p><p>Gabriel pulled out the amulet, which Jesse had returned to him upon his mentioning that Ellegaard and Soren wanted to do something with it. "My friends," he announced, loudly, "I am proud to introduce to you..."</p><p>He placed the amulet in Jesse's hands, and Jesse felt the amulet glow brighter than the stars in the night sky as it landed in her hands, "The New Order of the Stone!"</p><p>The crowd cheered again, Jesse beaming and stepping over to stand next to her friends, giving Lukas a grin as she stood on the stage.</p><p>Tomorrow was a new day. And it might be harder going through it with one missing friend.</p><p>But Jesse would be ready for whatever it threw at her.</p><p>Jesse put her lowest set of hands in her pockets, feeling the thing again, and her expression grew a bit more somber.</p><p>Just as soon as she'd gone to do this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0070"><h2>70. Emotion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse had been walking for what felt like hours, but what she knew was only about twenty minutes.</p><p>Finally, she stopped, backtracked three steps, moved aside some ivy with a stick (she was NOT getting a rash) and moved through it cautiously, before going down some rocks and finally stopping in a little clearing.</p><p>The clearing was beautiful. There was a waterfall that was about three times Jesse's height, with clear, clean blue water that flowed into a stream, surrounded by trees that almost completely hid the clearing from view, except for some sunlight that filtered through the leaves.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath of clean air and stared at the sparkling water.</p><p>It had already been a week. Yet when she closed her eyes she could see the image of her little pig, horribly pale, trying to move, but not able to. Looking so weak when usually he was so... <em>there</em>, so alive.</p><p>But of course he wasn't alive anymore.</p><p>Jesse sniffed slightly, and rubbed a couple of tears out of her eyes, before wading into the water. It was pleasantly cool, but Jesse concentrated on making it through the waterfall. She got completely soaked in the process, but... it was okay. That was okay. Because she was in that hidden cave that she and Reuben had discovered a few years back when coming here to play. The others didn't know, of course. No one really knew about this place.</p><p>Jesse reached out a shaking hand and put down one of the pink wool blocks she'd knitted over the past week when she'd had the time, trying not to drop it by accident. After that, she pulled out a carrot and a poppy and put it at the base of the pink wool block.</p><p>It wasn't really a funeral... but it was the closest thing Jesse could probably ask for.</p><p>She knelt there for a minute, a full minute, her knees on hard stone and her hands on her knees and her shoulders shaking slightly, before standing up and laying her fingers on the pink wool block, giving it a longing sort of look for a minute, before letting her fingers slide off.</p><p>Walking back through the waterfall seemed a bit harder. It was as though she were leaving one of the only things she'd ever really known behind.</p><p>She kept walking.</p><p>She climbed back up the rocks, past the ivy, turned a left to get to town- and ran into Lukas.</p><p>"Oh! Jesse, I- I was looking for you!" The ocelot hybrid smiled at her, his ears twitching, before his smile faded and he put his hands in his pockets. "Um... Jesse?"</p><p>"Yeah?" Jesse asked, rather shortly. This was not a good beginning, but Jesse's emotional range was a huge pendulum at this point in time. She was worse than a teenage girl hyped up on hormones.</p><p>"Why are you wet?"</p><p>"Reasons."</p><p>Lukas seemed to bristle a bit at her short response, but said nothing. "Um... so... I think the other Ocelots are mad at me."</p><p>Nothing. Jesse just arched her eyebrow. This conversation was going even further downhill by the minute, and if Jesse had been in any mood to, she should've made a funny face, or apologized and talked to him, and gone right back uphill to a happy medium, but Jesse was <em>not</em> in the mood, and she was already getting into a rather bad mood.</p><p>Lukas's brow furrowed. "I think they're mad at me for not going to save them." He waited. Still nothing. Still the patient one, Lukas continued, "Well, I mean... I don't really mind, because... I'm glad I came with you. Really I am." Another pause.</p><p>"Jesse, is this about Reuben? Because seriously, you just need to calm down and... well, maybe... get over it-"</p><p>Jesse's head snapped up. "What?" Her voice was dangerously low.</p><p>"- I know he was- he was like a best friend to you, but, in- in the end," Lukas fumbled, because unlike Jesse he was NOT good at making up motivational speeches on the spot, "he was just a pig-"</p><p>Jesse let out a cry that was a mix between rage and sorrow. "Do <em>not</em> just call Reuben a pig! I can't believe you, Lukas!"</p><p>"I-I'm just saying," Lukas backpedaled, "it's been a week, m-maybe you should start... start letting go-"</p><p>"You want me to just let go of one of my best friends?!" Jesse wasn't quite yelling yet, but her voice was barely raised, and getting a bit louder by the second.</p><p>"No, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying, it's okay for you to move on-"</p><p>"It's only been a week, I'm not ready to move on, of all the people I could've talked to about this," Jesse was starting to yell now, heat building up behind her eyes, "I thought <em>you</em> of all people would've understood!-"</p><p>"I'm not SAYING you should move on all at once, I'm just saying-"</p><p>"Yeah? Well stop, it's not your strong suit!" Jesse shot back angrily.</p><p>Lukas's eyebrows descended angrily. His pupils were slits, and his tail was starting to flicker in agitation. "Jesse, I'm trying to help-"</p><p>"Then just stop! Just stop and go be with your friends!" Jesse was definitely yelling now, loud enough she was pretty certain everyone in 'town' could hear her, "go be with the friends you wanted to go risk your lives to save, because you can't just tell me to move on over my best friend!" And she shoved Lukas as hard as she could, with all six arms. Which was pretty damn hard.</p><p>Lukas toppled backwards and landed on his bottom, eyes wide in surprise. Then his eyes narrowed, and he climbed to his feet. "Fine," he said, voice sharp with anger, "fine," he repeated, "forget I tried to help you. Just forget it, okay?!" he snapped, and he whirled on his heel and stormed off.</p><p>"I will. We don't need you, anyway!" Jesse shot back, and she turned on her heel and ran, deeper into the forest.</p><p>It wasn't until she'd slowed down to a walk and she'd gotten quite far from town, that she realized tears were pouring down her face.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0071"><h2>71. One Month Later</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse sat at the window, reading one of her books and not seeing a single word.</p><p>In <em>one month</em>, she, Petra, Olivia, and Axel had had lots of adventures, if their new treasure room was any indication. Seriously, some of the new treasures were amazing, like the Ghast tears, and okay, the weird puffer-fish thingy was pretty cool, too.</p><p>She hadn't seen Lukas after their fight. Everyone knew that they'd had a bit of a falling out, but they didn't know why. Jesse didn't plan on dragging it back up.</p><p>After all, they didn't need Lukas. He was a great asset to the team, but without him, the team functioned just as well. Jesse certainly didn't mind not having him around.</p><p>She was trying really hard to believe it, too.</p><p>The truth was, Jesse was really, <em>really</em> sorry that she'd shouted. At the time her emotions had been going on a wild roller coaster that went up, down, left, right, upside down, and she did know that Lukas was NOT the most eloquent speaker. His writing? Well, from what she remembered, he'd been pretty good when they were kids, but he sometimes messed up what he was trying to say.</p><p>He'd probably meant it well. But of course Jesse had been in a bad mood at the time, and who was the whipping girl (or, well, boy) had been the nearest person at the time. Which, of course, had been Lukas.</p><p>She wanted to apologize, but Lukas had disappeared for a time and hadn't actually showed up since.</p><p>Jesse looked down at her book, still trying to read it and having no luck, and trying to think of a distraction besides what she was going to say to Lukas when he came back. She'd gone through several options: hugging the blonde ocelot hybrid, begging for forgiveness, just saying 'sorry' and leaving it at that, or spilling out a cascade of words that involved some form of apologizing.</p><p>She'd also gone through throwing up on the carpet, although she decided since that was probably not a good way to say sorry.</p><p>She looked at the pages, praying for that distraction to come.</p><p>Thankfully- or perhaps, not so thankfully- that distraction came in the form of an explosion.</p><p>Jesse set down her book, saving the page (although there wasn't much point, she'd really just been staring at the pages and turning them occasionally) and trotted downstairs to smell something burning and to see Ellegaard yelling at Magnus at the top of her lungs, Axel and said former-Order-of-the-Stone member roaring on the floor with laughter, Olivia pinching the bridge of her nose with an amused grin, Petra and Gabriel in stitches as they tittered, and Soren trying very, very, <em>very</em> hard not to laugh.</p><p>Ivor was probably in the basement working on another potion. Jesse was no longer sure which place had more explosions: the basement, or the living room.</p><p>"What in the name of Notch were you doing?!" Ellegaard was demanding, although an observant bystander could see the way she smirked as she yelled, "I think the whole HOUSE shook!"</p><p>"Forget the house, I'm pretty sure the whole town felt that one," Jesse said with a wry smile, her friends turning and grinning when they saw her.</p><p>Gabriel managed through his giggles, "I think Magnus was trying to teach Axel how to use fireworks destructively." And he put his hand on his knee, still laughing helplessly.</p><p>"Well, you certainly succeeded," Jesse responded, drily looking at the remains of what was probably the coffee table, since said item was missing from the room and there was instead a charred pile of ashes and wood.</p><p>Petra was in stitches and couldn't stop, tears pouring down her cheeks. Jesse couldn't help but let the slightest relieved smile sneak over her face. It was hard to believe that only a month before Petra had been turning gray, dying of Wither Sickness, and radiated such intense cold that Jesse could feel it from twenty feet away. Petra's Wither Sickness had disappeared almost <em>immediately</em> after they'd defeated the Witherstorm.</p><p>Had it really only been one month since then? It felt like millenia.</p><p>Another explosion shook Jesse out of her thoughts, this one rattling a couple of glassware off the table. Jesse didn't even look in the glass's direction and used her lower arms to catch them before they hit the ground, putting them back on the table.</p><p>Ivor came upstairs a second later, face covered in soot and robes shaking them off in a little trail as he stomped up the steps. He pointed accusingly at Magnus and Axel. "You need to test your explosions somewhere else. I dropped in the wrong amount of Blaze Rod powder and the whole thing nearly blew up in my face."</p><p>"You keep doing that by yourself," Soren murmured, a faint smile fixed on his face.</p><p>Ivor scowled a bit playfully at the ginger, but his scowl softened when Jesse asked, a bit more sympathetically, "Need help cleaning up?"</p><p>"No, it's alright. By the way, I found something you four should probably be interested in. In this old text, I spotted a mention of an old temple and possible treasure in it," Ivor noted, dusting some of the soot off his face.</p><p>Petra stopped laughing gradually, wiping her face a bit as she grinned at the potionologist. "Really? Where is it?" she asked, interested now. Petra was pretty interested in the treasure, as much as she liked adventure.</p><p>Ivor pulled out a scroll and handed it to Jesse, who opened it, recognizing the greens and blues of the map they'd been working on for a month. Ivor peered at the map, dark blue eyes squinting at the image. "Now, let's see, the text said that it was between..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0072"><h2>72. The (Aesthetically Cool) Temple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse poked her head out from behind a tree, checking around for any mobs. She carefully, quietly, started moving, creeping along, before a creeper suddenly walked over and Jesse quickly dropped to all eights, rapidly crawling around the tree before lunging to her feet and unsheathing her new enchanted sword, rushing at the monsters. Mostly zombies. Everyone had gotten much better at asking their specific mobs for favors, but not zombies.</p><p>Jesse whipped out her blade and charged forward before slicing through the zombies, knocking crowds of the them back at a time. Jesse was walking forward, when Petra's voice suddenly rang out, "Look out!"</p><p>Jesse turned to see some skeletons, and she flicked out her sword to block, even as Petra leaped down from the top of a tree and stomped on one zombie, before sending the other one flying at Jesse. Jesse grinned and let out a yell as she slammed it, the skeleton bursting into dust and smoke upon impact.</p><p>"Thanks!" Jesse said, beaming at the redhead.</p><p>"Hey Jesse, check this out!" called Axel, and the two girls turned around to see the burly male squeezing two zombies under his arms by the neck. "And, three, two-" He squeezed, and the two zombies exploded into dust.</p><p>Jesse smirked at the boy's display of strength- which really was impressive- but her eyes widened as another one came up behind him.</p><p>"Duck!" she barked, charging at him with sword in hand. Axel leaned down, crouching, and Jesse vaulted over his back and flicked the sword with all her might, making the zombie explode into more dust and smoke.</p><p>"Dude, you're getting pretty good at this!" and the creeper hybrid ruffled Jesse's hair, making her pout playfully at him before letting out a little laugh and adjusting her hair again.</p><p>"You guys are working way too hard," Olivia said, leaning against a huge assortment of arrow dispensers, before straightening up and jogging her elbow into the button, sending arrows flying everywhere and impaling a huge crowd of monsters.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at the Enderman hybrid, a smile still playing on her mouth. "You're always looking to one-up us, aren'tcha?" she asked, as a zombie lurched towards her. Jesse tossed the sword blade, catching it with one of her lower arms, before reversing the blade and jabbing it into the zombie, making it explode into smoke inches behind her.</p><p>Jesse looked up at the temple that Ivor had pointed out. Glowing with torches, tall, built out of stone, it was one of the most aesthetically impressive temples Jesse had ever seen.</p><p>"<em>That</em>," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "is one of the nicest temples I've ever seen."</p><p>Petra nodded as she came up behind her friend. "Yeah, points for Ivor, I guess. This was a good tip."</p><p>Jesse glanced at her Blaze hybrid friend. The rest of the Order- both old and New- still didn't trust Ivor that much. Jesse did, but then again, Jesse was Jesse.</p><p>The four of them, without much else, walked into the temple. The three walls that didn't have the door had structures with lava being bottled up, pistons that were blocking the lava, and levers. The three structures were identical, save for being on different walls. The center of the floor had a sort of indent to it made of stone.</p><p>Logically, there must be some sort of secret passageway.</p><p>Or... well, logically since every other place they'd gone to had SOME sort of puzzle or secret to it.</p><p>Jesse walked forward without a word, looking around the room at the buttons, before flipping the lever. The lava came out, flowing through the channels, although where it went was anybody's guess.</p><p>Through about ten minutes of trial and error (by the end of which Jesse got rather frustrated), she managed to flip in what she assumed was the correct order. She actually had to backtrack at one. Who knew THAT was the answer?</p><p>The floor opened up, slowly, revealing three trails of lava that combined in the middle and poured down into the darkness. A set of stairs lead down into the dark tunnel.</p><p>"Think I actually would've been DISAPPOINTED if the floor <em>didn't</em> open up into a dark, creepy passageway," Axel said, looking down at said dark, creepy passageway.</p><p>Petra looked around as she hovered down, next to the lava. Through a few mishaps in the Nether, the hybrids had learned that Petra actually was immune to lava- she could literally stand under it for ten minutes straight and nothing would happen, except for Petra complaining that the 'water' was too hot. "This kinda reminds me of when we first found the Order's temple." A chuckle. "We were such a scared bunch of noobs back then."</p><p>Jesse gave Petra a look. "Petra, that was two months ago."</p><p>"Exactly- things have changed a LOT since two months ago," Petra responded, giving the spider hybrid a grin.</p><p>Olivia teleported in front of Jesse, who didn't even blink at that. She'd long since gotten used to Olivia's 'disappearing' act. "And to think, that was just the beginning," she said thoughtfully, before disappearing and reappearing on the stairs far, far below.</p><p>"Yeah!" Axel chimed in, grinning, "that was before we'd fought Witherstorms, hung out with Endermen, reunited the Order... so crazy."</p><p>Jesse looked around cautiously as they came towards the bottom of the tunnel, because if she'd learned ANYTHING from watching action movies as a kid and in her time adventuring, it was "don't walk into the creepy passageway without expecting booby traps."</p><p>Reaching the bottom, Jesse looked as the lava disappeared into a hole in the ground, before walking into a sort of cavern- that was really the only way to describe it.</p><p>Jesse looked about before spotting four chests, lined up in a little circle. "Bingo!" she said, rather cheerfully, walking over to the chests and leaning down to look through one. Everyone else knelt down at a chest, rooting through it. "Alright, let's see what we've got... hey, it's a cake!"</p><p>Axel's eyes lit up. "Man, you're lucky," he said, staring at the cake.</p><p>Jesse looked down at the sweet treat, before going over to him and holding it out with a cheery smile. "Hey, you can have it!"</p><p>Axel's face lit up. Jesse discreetly checked to make sure his entire body wasn't flashing- sometimes when Jesse surprised him with something like a cookie or cake he'd start flashing white. She was secretly worried that he would blow up right now. Thankfully, he wasn't flashing, so she handed over the cake. "Oh man, oh MAN, oh man, thank you!"</p><p>Jesse shot Axel a beaming grin before going back to her chest, and kept looking through the chest. "Hmmn... pumpkin. Not bad. And... looks like we've got one more thing in here... it's..." she trailed off, looking at the flint and steel, before reaching in and pulling out the flint and steel.</p><p>This flint and steel was different, though- it glowed a beautiful shade of azure blue, and illuminated Jesse's face as she stared at it in wonder.</p><p>"What'd you find?" Olivia asked, as Jesse went over a couple steps, holding the flint and steel.</p><p>"What are you talking abouuwoah! That's super cool!" Axel said, grinning at Jesse, who was still looking at the flint and steel with a bemused look.</p><p>"That glow... Is that an enchantment?" Jesse asked, staring at the blue flint and steel.</p><p>Olivia shook her head, crossing her arms. "I don't know. I've seen people put an Unbreaking enchantment on flint and steel before... but that's not Unbreaking."</p><p>"You could give it a shot and find out," Petra suggested.</p><p>Jesse shrugged and clicked the flint and steel together.</p><p>A white hot spark formed between the two, making a shockwave of energy ripple through the cavern, shivers shooting up Jesse's spine as the glow from the spark lit up the room for a moment, before fading. "Whoa! Well... I have DEFINITELY never seen a flint and steel do THAT before," she said, looking down at the find with wide eyes.</p><p>"Uh oh."</p><p>Jesse turned to see what Petra was talking about. And then she sighed and put a hand to her face.</p><p>Surrounding the four hybrids was hordes and hordes of zombies.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0073"><h2>73. Jesse and the Temple of Doom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Looks like some zombies have a death wish," Jesse said mildly, passing the flint and steel to a couple of her lower arms, before yanking out her sword.</p><p>Petra pulled out her own, Blaze Rods appearing around her and fire beginning to flicker at her feet. Gold eyes glowed, cutting through the dimness like a knife through butter. The armor Ivor had given her began to glow red-hot- the gold armor with silver edges (it wasn't pure gold, but rather a metal that could stand extreme heat. It just looked gold.)</p><p>Axel grinned and tensed a bit. His eyes dilated, and green mottled skin began to show itself on his neck, his hands, most parts of him.</p><p>Olivia's height shot up a couple inches, both eyes beginning to brighten as her arms stiffened straight out, grinning at the zombies in front of them with a nasty grin.</p><p>The four hybrids tensed, before Jesse started. Shooting a web at the ceiling, she retracted herself, swung herself towards a zombie, and landed hard on it, stamping on it with all her might, making the thing burst into smoke. Without pausing, she flicked her sword out and sliced off a zombie's head.</p><p>"Duck!"</p><p>Jesse did as she was told, and watched as Petra sent an arc of lava splashing all over some of the zombies behind her, setting a good deal more on fire. Petra then vaulted over her into the fire and began to wreak even more havoc on the zombies.</p><p>Axel charged into a huge group of them, and Jesse dropped to all eights as an explosion went off, sending zombies and zombie guts flying everywhere.</p><p>Olivia didn't build another redstone machine- instead, she started teleporting around the room, grabbing zombies and tossing them into the lava, or hitting them, or sending them flying at Jesse, who'd impale them with her sword.</p><p>"Three, two-" and Jesse sank her teeth into a zombie's skull, just as fangs shot out from her mouth. The zombie jerked, before dying again, leaving a rather nasty taste in Jesse's mouth. She spit it out and made a face.</p><p>The four hybrids then bolted for the stairs, Olivia just teleporting up as fast as she could.</p><p>A doorway that none of them had noticed opened, and zombies began lurching out from the doorway.</p><p>Jesse groaned. "Oh, come on!" Whipping out her sword again, as Olivia pulled out a bow and shot a couple that were following them, Jesse sliced through a zombie's legs, and then sent the next one over the edge and into the lava, before they continued running up the stairs.</p><p>An arrow impaled the ground in front of Jesse, and she twisted to look up, just in time to see a lavafall take out two skeletons... and the stairs.</p><p>"We need to get out of here!" Jesse barked, "Now!"</p><p>They all bolted up the stairs, just as Petra shouted, "Look out!" Jesse looked up to see a lavafall beginning to head her way, and dropped to all eights, propelling herself forward with almost superhuman speed before lunging for a stair, using the web to catch herself as the stairs began to disappear, before more lava took out the stairs, getting ready to take out the four hybrids.</p><p>"The vines! Climb the vines!" Jesse shouted, pointing at the wall, before jumping on. Her eight limbs began to scramble up the wall, as the others grabbed the vines (well, Axel), as Olivia teleported to the top and Petra hopped off the staircase, hovering upwards.</p><p>Another opening opened up, and cave spiders started coming out.</p><p>Petra let out a groan. "Cave spiders... why did it have to be cave spiders?"</p><p>Jesse knew why Petra was groaning- at one point, apparently, when Jesse had caught a cold and couldn't go on the mission, the three other hybrids went off to go look through a cave. They came back covered in greenish blue blood. Cave spiders, when killed, apparently have a tendency to pop like a balloon, despite their being smaller than normal spiders. Jesse decided to take their word for it.</p><p>"Hey, back off!" Jesse snapped at the cave spiders, the telltale hissing that came out whenever she talked to spiders appearing.</p><p>The cave spiders looked at Jesse for a moment, before they moved away from Jesse and Axel, and Jesse started double-timing it up the wall.</p><p>Unfortunately, besides Olivia, it looked like they might not be fast enough, because the tunnel started closing.</p><p>Olivia bleeped out of sight, before reappearing and putting blocks down to block it, but the tunnel walls were persistent and just smashed through the blocks.</p><p>A last ditch idea came to Jesse's mind, and she withdrew her sword again, before drawing her arm back and winging it right at the tunnel opening. The sword clanged into the space between the two parts of the floor, keeping it open.</p><p>"I can't believe I just saw that! That was amazing! Why is no one freaking out?!" Axel said, his voice high-pitched with excitement.</p><p>"Freak out on the inside, Axel," Petra responded, with a grin, "we gotta move!"</p><p>Petra soared through the open space, Axel crawled through, and Jesse leaped her way out, grabbing the sword and giving it a good, hard, yank, the tunnel opening slamming shut so hard the floor shook.</p><p>Walking outside the temple, Jesse grinned at her friends as sweat poured down her face, stinging her eyes. "Holy CRAP, that was fun," she said, grinning.</p><p>"Yeah, I see what you mean. Fighting off monsters, finding <em>sweet</em> treasure," Petra said, smirking slightly.</p><p>Axel waved his arms. "Like that flint and steel thing... you gotta try it again!"</p><p>Jesse shrugged and pulled out the flint and steel. Once again, the blue glow lit up her face, making her red eye turn purple and her green eye turn the same shade of green-blue as Lukas's eyes.</p><p>Jesse went over to a block of wood, holding the flint and steel out, before clicking it together again, carefully. A pillar of blue fire shot up inches within Jesse's face, making her yelp a bit and hop back, shock in her eyes, all of their mouths open as they stared at the blue flames. "Whoa!" the four hybrids chorused, eyes wide.</p><p>And then Jesse heard a voice that she hadn't heard in a while. She looked in the direction of the voice.</p><p>"Well, well. Where'd you get the new toy?" Aiden asked, smirking as he leaned on his own enchanted sword.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0074"><h2>74. Aiden and the Pussycats</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Looks a little sophisticated for you, Jesse," Aiden continued.</p><p>"Order of the Losers," Maya sneered at them.</p><p>"Yeah, Losers," Gill added, grinning at them nastily. The two of them stood behind the dark-brown haired male with celery green eyes (Jesse really did not like celery, but decided not to mention this fact to him).</p><p>"Are you here to make trouble?" Jesse asked tiredly. "Because... it's past midnight, you're all wearing armor, and you're insulting me. I honestly don't care about that, but I wanna go take a nap after I stop being all hyped up on adrenaline. Can you please make this quick?"</p><p>"Oh, I see," Aiden sneered. "The 'Order of the Stone' is so fancy they don't have time to play anymore."</p><p>Jesse internally facepalmed. This was not going well already.</p><p>"So, what are you <em>Ocelots</em> doing here anyway?" Olivia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.</p><p>Aiden laughed. "The Ocelots were <em>Lukas's </em>gang. We ditched that name just like we ditched <em>him</em>."</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened, and her fists tightened as her lower arms put the flint and steel back in her pocket. She might've had a falling out with Lukas, but he was still her friend, and there was no way in hell Jesse was just going to let that pass without saying something.</p><p>"Yeah, we rebranded!" Maya said, turning around to reveal two Blaze Rods (Petra scowled at that), "we're the Blaze Rods now!"</p><p>Gill threw his arms in the air. "Blaze Rods!" he cheered.</p><p>"Shut up, Gill," Aiden snapped at Gill, who gave the leader a sheepish look.</p><p>"Oh, that's too bad. I thought Ocelots was wayy cooler," Jesse responded, crossing her arms primly. She still wasn't all that used to the sensation of all her arms crossing, and barely repressed a slight shudder.</p><p>"That's what I said!" Gill spoke up again, waving his arms as he gave Jesse a grin.</p><p>Aiden glared at the male again, celery-green eyes flashing. "Shut <em>up</em>, Gill!"</p><p>"Where's Lukas, huh?" Aiden asked, stalking towards Jesse and past her, "the minute the Order decided you were cool-"</p><p>"For whatever reason-"</p><p>"-he wouldn't stop sniffing around you like a tamed dog. Ironic, 'cause he's an ocelot hybrid," and Aiden sneered.</p><p>Petra glared at the bully as well. "You take that back!" she snapped.</p><p>Jesse glared at Aiden, her eyes slowly beginning to turn red, "Lukas wanted to leave us to risk his neck and save you guys- <em>for whatever reason</em>," she mimicked Maya, "and this is how you talk about him?!"</p><p>Aiden sent Jesse a look, before waving at her arms. "You probably think that flint and steel and your 'being a hybrid' and all that makes you <em>so</em> special."</p><p>"No, not really."</p><p>"Classic Jesse," Aiden said, ignoring Jesse's comment, before stomping his foot, "You take all the best stuff and never give anyone else a chance. That should've been ours!"</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow at that. "The flint and steel? Sure, I'll rewind time and you can go solve an infuriating lever puzzle, fight through fifty mobs involving zombies and cave spiders, run up the staircase while it's being set on fire and disappearing, avoid lava falls, climb up a wall, fight cave spiders WHILE climbing up the wall, throw your sword at the tunnel opening so it doesn't trap you in the Temple of Doom, and yank your sword out before cave spiders come through and eat your face. Do you wanna do that? Aiden, we earned this fair and square."</p><p>Aiden sneered at that. "Nothing you've done has ever been <em>fair and square</em>, Jesse."</p><p>"You forget all the times you beat us at the Endercon Building competition. And the fact that you tried to destroy our build two months ago by pouring lava everywhere," Jesse pointed out.</p><p>A <em>shing!</em> as Aiden drew his sword, pointing it at Jesse. "Hand over the flint and steel, Jesse. Don't make me ask again."</p><p>Jesse looked at the sword, then back at Aiden. She arched her eyebrow. "I'm going to have to say no."</p><p>"It's not enough you got to save the world-"</p><p>"Ex<em>cuse</em> me," Jesse hissed, glaring at Aiden. "Saving the world wasn't a joyride. Do you know how stressful it was? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I got diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, what with all the nightmares you get with it. You think it's fun? Fine. Next time a huge monstrous Wither decides to spawn and it can't be destroyed except with a special weapon, then I'll let you go handle it. You can see how fun it is while you're being petrified half the time and almost dying the other half, <em>thank</em> you very much."</p><p>Aiden glared, jabbing the sword more insistently at Jesse.</p><p>Axel began to hiss, softly. His eyes dilated as Petra drew her own sword, flicking it out as flames began to gently glow along the blade of the sword. Olivia's arms straightened, and she looked at them through bright eyes. Seeing her friends getting ready for a fight, Jesse reluctantly drew her own sword.</p><p>"Some hero you are, Jesse," Aiden sneered. "You couldn't even save your own dumb pig."</p><p>Jesse didn't remember jumping on him, but she suddenly found herself looming over Aiden, with her sword pressed to his throat, his eyes wide as he stared up at her enraged expression, tears building up in her throat and eyes.</p><p>"You talk about Reuben like that again," she said, voice so low and soft and dangerous she could barely hear it, "you talk about him like that again and I <em>will not hesitate,</em> I'll kill you. <em>Got it</em>?"</p><p>Aiden just gulped nervously, as Jesse got off of him, her fists clenched in rage to keep them from shaking.</p><p>"Fine," he said, giving her a look of pure loathing, sheathing his sword. Everyone relaxed, following suit and putting their swords away as Jesse returned the look.</p><p>"Oh, and one more thing," Jesse added, as Aiden opened his mouth to say something, "if you can't say something nice, <em>don't say it at all.</em>" And she raised a finger and fired.</p><p>A web fired from her finger and hit right on his lips, sticking them together. He started grabbing at the web, getting the sticky white thing all over his fingers as he grabbed and pulled fiercely, panic in his eyes, before shooting Jesse another look and beginning to walk off.</p><p>"Blaze Rods!" Gill cheered again, before he was given a harsh shove by the dark-brown haired male, who was giving Gill a look of pure anger, before shooting one more glare that promised a slow and painful death and walking off after Maya.</p><p>"Okay... I'm officially starting to get a bad feeling about Aiden," Jesse said, crossing her arms and quickly dashing her hand across the back of her eyes and frowning after him. "Threatening people, enchanting his sword... I hope he doesn't hurt anyone."</p><p>"Yeah, we need to keep an eye out," Petra agreed.</p><p>"Yeah... anyways," Jesse looked back at her friends, "I think I'm going to ask Ivor if he knows anything about the flint and steel. He WAS the one who told us about the temple in the first place.</p><p>And they walked back home, the temple glowing behind them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0075"><h2>75. Order of the Fans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Finally starting to recognize stuff again," Axel sighed gladly as they trotted up to the gates.</p><p>"Cheers to that," Petra said tiredly, twisting some of her short, choppy red hair around her finger.</p><p>Olivia shook her head, frowning a bit. "I just can't shake what Aiden was saying about us back there. We DO get a lot of treasure. And I guess sometimes we might throw our weight around..."</p><p>Jesse scratched her head a little as Axel complained, "What? No! Aiden's got a bad case of treasure-envy, pure and simple."</p><p>"Well, I guess we do always try and get the best treasure," Jesse mused, reaching a hand up to touch her lip.</p><p>The gates opened slowly as they walked in, Axel arguing back, "Yeah, but that just means we have great taste, not that we're like, bullies or something."</p><p>"Hmm, you have a point..."</p><p>"Well, no matter what Aiden thinks," Petra said, pulling off her helmet to reveal her blue bandana, looking as though she were bracing herself, "there's one thing I know."</p><p>"What's that?" Jesse asked, twisting her head to the side to look at the redhead.</p><p>Petra raised a hand and pointed. "<em>They</em> think we're awesome."</p><p>"They're back!" shouted a voice, making Jesse look over to see two civilians jumping up and down as if they'd just won the lottery, "you guys, they're back!"</p><p>"Run!" the other one squealed, "tell everyone our heroes have returned!"</p><p>Jesse scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, feeling her face flush red in embarrassment, as crowds poured out of the buildings and stood on the sides of the street, running up to them.</p><p>"Yep, New Order of the Stone is back in town!" Axel said cheerfully, Jesse giving her creeper friend an embarrassed grin. "I'm still not used to this. And I honestly thought there'd be a stronger reaction to us being hybrids."</p><p>"Well, we saved the world because of it. I guess they just think it's cool."</p><p>"Mmm," Jesse conceded the point with a nod, before starting to walk through the crowd, trying not to blush too hard.</p><p>"Ah, there they are!" squealed one fan.</p><p>"Look at what you've done with this place," Jesse said loudly, grinning, half saying it to try to keep herself from being too terribly embarrassed, and the other half saying it because she <em>meant</em> it. "It looks freaking awesome!"</p><p>More cheering, and one fan even screamed at the top of her lungs, making Jesse wince a bit with an awkward smile.</p><p>"Welcome back!" the fan who'd squealed to the other one sang, running forward and holding up her hand for a high-five.</p><p>Jesse shrugged and returned it, a small smile on her face.</p><p>The girl ran over to someone on the sidelines as Jesse continued walking with a shy smile, "See that?! Jesse high-fived me! Me! ... it actually hurt a little bit. Wow." Annnnd Jesse glanced back just in time to see the girl faint. She winced and rubbed her head awkwardly.</p><p>As the crowd dispersed, bit by bit, Jesse spotted someone familiar sitting under a tree. She squinted. Yep, that was Ivor- sitting and reading his potion book, as usual.</p><p>Jesse rushed up to him with a bright grin. "Hey, Ivor! Tired of the explosions?"</p><p>Ivor looked up from his book, his thoughtful look softening at the sight of his pupil. "Hello, Jesse. And yes, I do like making potions but after a couple of hours I get tired of things blowing up in my face."</p><p>"If you say so, man."</p><p>Ivor gave Axel an amused look before looking back up at Jesse. "Haven't seen you around in a while."</p><p>"And by a while, I assume you mean two days?" Petra remarked sarcastically.</p><p>Ivor shot Petra a look. "Ha ha." Then he looked back to Jesse. "So, what can I do for you?"</p><p>Jesse grinned at her mentor. "Ivor, we found something at that temple you told us about!"</p><p>For someone who was often rather calm and slow- sometimes sluggish- Ivor could sure jolt to his feet in less than five seconds. And grab onto Jesse's shoulders. Jesse hadn't seen his eyes sparkle like that for ages. "What? You did?" his voice dropped very low, before he straightened up, clearing his throat. "Yes, ahem... well, come here." And he held out his arms.</p><p>Jesse gave Ivor a puzzled look. Ivor didn't really like hugs. Or... physical contact, really. But, then again, this was Jesse he was offering it to. So she shrugged and pulled him into a hug.</p><p>He started talking quietly into her ear, her hair blocking anything anyone could've seen of his mouth. "Meet me in the Treasure Room. Ten minutes. And bring the thing you found." He then released her, gave her a pat on the back, and walked off.</p><p>Petra gave Jesse a couple pats on the back, as Jesse arched her eyebrow and then looked back at Petra. "I wonder why Ivor wants us to meet him in the Treasure Room..."</p><p>"Did he say that?" Petra asked, slightly surprised.</p><p>Olivia spoke up, drawing all attention to the Enderman hybrid. "Axel and I are going to go say hi to Magnus and Ellegaard. We'll be right back."</p><p>"See you later!" Jesse said, playfully saluting to her friend. Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin and walked off, the burly male and the tall female walking side by side.</p><p>"Let's go find Ivor, I guess," Jesse said with a small shrug and smile, and the two of them walked towards the Treasure Room.</p><p>The tall hall was filled with treasures that floated on the gold pedestals, a couple of posters, and at the end, the most important (or most valued) treasures. The Order of the Stone's treasures, the armor, and the Withered Nether Star. (Reuben had his own special corner off to the side.)</p><p>"Wow, this place is really shaping up," Petra hummed, looking around the room. And then-</p><p>"Whoa! Lukas! I don't believe it!"</p><p>Jesse's stomach clenched as her head snapped from looking at the redhead to see the blonde ocelot hybrid whip around to face the two females.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0076"><h2>76. Make Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hey," Lukas said, a little awkwardly, turning around fully and batting at his ears nervously. "You guys are back. How's... uh... how's it going?" He was determinedly staring at the floor.</p><p>"Hey," Jesse said, eyes narrowing as she pointed at him, before a softer smile came over her face and she let her arm drop. "You came back."</p><p>Lukas smiled a little at that, still batting at his ears and fidgeting with his twitching tail. It didn't take a genius to tell that he was nervous. "Yeah. Uh... thought I'd show my face again."</p><p>The tension was so thick you could've sliced it with a knife.</p><p>"Well, it-it's great to see it!" Petra said, looking from the spider hybrid to the ocelot hybrid. "Your face, I mean." Her attempt at releasing some of the tension flopped miserably.</p><p>There was another silence, in which Jesse and Lukas looked at each other awkwardly, neither sure what to say to the other.</p><p>Lukas let out a sigh and trotted down the steps towards the spider hybrid. "Listen, Jesse, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. The last time we saw each other? With... what I said... I'm not happy about how things went down, and... well, I wanna patch things up. I'm tired of us not talking to each other, so... I'm sorry." He stopped walking towards her, arm's length away.</p><p>Jesse stared at Lukas, her green and red eyes widening. She'd been worrying and stressing and running over in her head how she wanted to apologize, and Lukas was the one who apologized first.</p><p>"Hey..." and Jesse crossed all of her arms, looking at the floor awkwardly. "I'm the one who's sorry. I wasn't in a very good... emotional state back there and... well, it's not how I wanted things to end."</p><p>She found herself being enveloped in a warm hug by the ocelot hybrid. She stood there awkwardly before a soft smile came over her face and she reached out to return it. "You're a good friend, Jesse," Lukas said, in her ear. "That means a lot."</p><p>Jesse smiled slightly at him, before the two of them stepped out of their hug, smiling at each other.</p><p>And just like that, they'd made up.</p><p>"You sounded like you broke up or something," Petra said absentmindedly.</p><p>Both her hybrid friends gaped at Petra, hot pink in the face.</p><p>Lukas cleared his throat a minute later, looking down at the floor. "Um... it's, uh... it's good to be back," he said, awkwardly, before looking around.</p><p>His eye caught something, and he walked towards Reuben's corner. "Oh, wow. You framed it- uh, him."</p><p>Jesse didn't take offense at that- just nodded. "Yeah," she nodded.</p><p>"How are you doing?"</p><p>Jesse was quiet for a second, before she cupped her elbows in her hands and stared down at the floor. "I really, really miss him. Every morning, I wake up, and... just for a minute, I can pretend that he's just in another room, or rooting outside looking for carrots." She let out a soft, sad little sigh. "And then every morning... I get to wake up and remember all over that he's gone."</p><p>Lukas was quiet, before suddenly Jesse found herself being enveloped in another hug. "I'm so sorry," he said softly.</p><p>Jesse hugged him back, closing her eyes just for a second.</p><p>Lukas stepped back for a minute, rubbing his head. "Okay, guys, I didn't just come back here to bum everyone out."</p><p>Jesse had to smile faintly at that.</p><p>"I actually came back because I have to tell you something. It's about this weird run-in I had... with Aiden."</p><p>Jesse's smile fell right back off her face, and she turned to look at Lukas. "Yep, we saw him too," she sighed, "The Order of the Stone and the 'Blaze Rods' are just as friendly as ever.</p><p>"That's an understatement."</p><p>Jesse grinned at Petra's sarcastic comment, as Lukas continued, frowning, "He's been so jealous of you and the rest of the Order ever since you saved the world from the Witherstorm. Convinced that HE was supposed to be a hero... ever since he took over the Ocel-" He stopped himself, "the 'Blaze Rods', it seems like he's just gotten... meaner. Pushing Maya and Gill around."</p><p>"Jealous?" Jesse asked, incredulously. "Why? Does he think it was <em>fun</em> having to run for my life in terror nine times out of ten?"</p><p>"No... he..." Lukas hesitated, before saying quickly, in the manner of someone who had something unpleasant to say and wanted to get it off his chest as fast as possible, "he thinks you're a big bully, Jesse, looting and keeping all the good stuff for yourself. So... what'd you find that got Aiden so excited, anyway?"</p><p>Jesse reached into her pocket and held it out, showing it to Lukas, with a small smile. "Check it out."</p><p>"Wow," Lukas said, going up to the flint and steel and looking at it along with Petra, staring at the azure glow with fascination, "what a weird glow..."</p><p>"Yeah, I'm supposed to show it to-"</p><p>"YOU FOUND IT!"</p><p>All three of them let out a loud yell, as Ivor skidded into the room right next to them. Lukas put a hand over his thudding heart and Petra yelped, looking ticked, "Dude, what's wrong with you?!"</p><p>Jesse shot Petra a look as Ivor said, sounding excited, "This is the greatest find of our time!" Ivor bounced up and down, hands together, looking like a six-year old on Christmas morning. "I can't believe you actually..."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow at him, smiling at her mentor's antics. "Okay, spill, what's it do?"</p><p>Ivor grinned up at Jesse, dark blue eyes sparkling. "That glow... that enchantment is the work of a very old group of builders, a group so old that they existed even before the Order of the Stone!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0077"><h2>77. Back to the Temple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Wow, so that temple we went to was built by these... old builders?" Jesse asked, passing the flint and steel down to a couple of her lower arms as she looked at her mentor curiously.</p><p>"That's my suspicion," Ivor nodded, "but it's what's INSIDE the temple that interests me even more! You see, if these builders truly existed, and if you found their temple... that means we're one step closer to finding the 'Eversource'!"</p><p>Petra chuckled and elbowed the blonde Ocelot in the shoulder. "Looks like you came back just in time, Lukas."</p><p>"The Ever... what now?" Jesse asked, arching her eyebrow.</p><p>"The Eversource!" Ivor repeated.</p><p>Lukas arched his eyebrow as well. "You... uh... gonna actually explain it any more than that?"</p><p>"The Eversource is said to be an object of incredible power possessed by the old builders," Ivor said, a bit impatiently, unlike when he usually taught Jesse, "it was some sort of treasure, or artifact, that gave them an endless supply of precious materials! Think about it, Jesse! That temple must've been its hiding place!"</p><p>"Wow... Old Builders," Petra said, reaching a hand up to touch her lip, "You learn something new every day."</p><p>Jesse nodded, looking at the flint and steel. "Okay, this flint and steel may have the 'Old Builder' enchantment... but how do you know that's where the Eversource thing is?"</p><p>Ivor looked at Jesse, seriously. "I've travelled near and far, Jesse. That temple, that flint and stell... it's the only firm proof that I've ever seen of the Old Builders."</p><p>Petra nodded, combing her fingers through her short, red hair, "That does seem like a pretty solid bet." She grinned at the other two hybrids. "Old Builders, 'Eversources', ancient mysteries... you know I'm in."</p><p>Ivor hopped up and down as Jesse and Lukas nodded agreement. "Excellent! I'll pack my adventuring things immediately!" And he bolted off.</p><p>Petra's face fell. "Wait a minute, HE'S coming?"</p><p>"Sounds like you guys have a lot to get to. I guess I'll take off?" Lukas suggested, but Petra put her arm out to block Lukas. "Nope! You're coming with. I need the biggest buffer I can have between me and Ivor."</p><p>Jesse laughed at that.</p><hr/><p>Ivor was running around, the most energetic Jesse had seen the former Order of the Stone member in years. "Adventure! Haha!"</p><p>"Lukas, I know it's daytime, but watch our backs, okay?" Petra asked Lukas, who nodded back with a grin.</p><p>Petra leaned over and whispered into Jesse's ear, softly, "I can't believe we're bringing Ivor with us. I mean, it's nice that he's excited, but he's not the first person I'd choose as 'adventuring companion'."</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Well, we can't really argue that when it comes to all the ancient history and treasure, Ivor sure knows a LOT about it."</p><p>"Eh, true. Fair enough."</p><p>"These trees are enormous! I love it so much!"</p><p>Jesse glanced back at her two friends, who were smothering giggles as best as they could. Jesse smirked a little and turned back to the front, fighting a smile herself.</p><p>"He gets on my nerves sometimes," Petra added, once the three of them had gotten over their giggling fit.</p><p>"Remarkable!" Ivor said, putting his hands on his hips and smiling at the temple, "look at this architecture! So old! So exquisite!"</p><p>"Nice to see you smiling," Jesse said, putting a hand on her mentor's shoulder with a grin.</p><p>Ivor's eyes widened, and he turned back to the front. "I'm not smiling."</p><p>This time the three hybrids could barely contain their giggles. Jesse literally covered her face with two sets of hands, Petra pulled her bandana over her face, and Lukas covered his face with his arms to hide the fact that they were practically rolling with laughter.</p><p>"This place looks a lot different in the daytime," Jesse noted, looking around the temple. And indeed, in the light of day, the temple didn't look nearly as imposing.</p><p>"Okay, be careful what you touch. There could be traps everywhere."</p><p>"I'm sure if we didn't trigger any the last time, we're not going to trigger any this time," Jesse teased, as Ivor hopped around. "Petra! Blonde guy... Lukas! Yes, Lukas! Are you excited as I am?"</p><p>"I'm not sure that's possible," Petra teased as Jesse searched around.</p><p>"Since you're so excited," Lukas added.</p><p>"Right now, Ivor's worse than Axel when he was hyped up on sugar-"</p><p>All three hybrids suddenly shuddered, chills rushing down their spine. Ivor gave them a surprised look. "Have your memories not all come back yet?" he wondered, raising his eyebrow.</p><p>"No, not quite. They come in little flashes, every time we see something that reminds us of the lab, but it's not quite all back yet," Jesse shook her head.</p><p>"Ah, I see."</p><p>Jesse looked around the room carefully, before spotting a makeshift staircase. "Hold up... there's some sort of room up there!" she called, looking at some vines against the wall as well. "This looks promising, I'm gonna head up," she said to her friends.</p><p>Ivor nodded vigorously. "Fantastic! We'll follow right behind you!"</p><p>And Jesse found herself climbing up into a room that was hidden from the rest of the temple, pulling aside some vines. "So, you think this Eversource is up here?" she called down to Ivor.</p><p>"Hard to say, Jesse! As the story goes, the Old Builders feared its potential, so they hid it away in a place where it would never be found."</p><p>Jesse spotted a pressure plate in front of an elaborate design on the wall. Curiously, she moved forward and stepped on it. The design, gold and quartz, slid forward, before the center 'doorway' slid back, the sounds of pistons clicking sounding.</p><p>"Wow, what's this?" she mused, looking at the floor curiously.</p><p>"Some kind of... portal?" Lukas hummed, raising his eyebrow as he looked at the doorway.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0078"><h2>78. Ivor the Fanboy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's just like I'd imagined," Ivor said, practically making anime eyes at the 'portal'.</p><p>"Once you're done fanboying," Jesse said, more amused than anything, "Do you know where it leads?"</p><p>Ivor cooled down a bit while the other two hybrids sniggered at Jesse's comment, "I don't know. This portal... it's not like anything I've ever seen," and he looked up at the gold-framed doorway.</p><p>Jesse shrugged with a small smile, pulling out the flint and steel and walking towards the portal. "Here goes nothing," she said, before clicking them together.</p><p>A shockwave of energy sent them flying backwards, the flint and steel flying out of Jesse's hands and clinking as they rolled across the floor, before she heard someone pick it up. Jesse tilted her head back and let out an annoyed groan. "Great. You're not any less unpleasant upside down than right side up," she sighed, using her string to lift her off the ground and flip herself back into a standing position.</p><p>Aiden sneered at her. "Thank you for bringing this to me, Jesse. I knew you were good for SOMETHING."</p><p>Lukas glared at his ex-best friend, tail twitching angrily as a soft hissing noise emitted from him. Petra glared as well, Ivor also crossing his arms and frowning at the dark-brown haired male.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at that. "Gee, thanks so much," she grumbled sarcastically.</p><p>"Step aside, Jesse," Aiden said, the other two Blaze Rods leering at the Order of the Stone, "<em>We're </em>heading through that portal now."</p><p>"Oh, NO way!" Petra barked back, immediately all fired up (Jesse smirked at the unintentional pun).</p><p>"Aiden, you're done," Lukas agreed, his claws unsheathing with a soft sound that sounded like metal. "This is where it ends!"</p><p>Aiden didn't even looked annoyed. "Fine. Blaze Rods! Clear me a path!"</p><p>The two Blaze Rods drew their swords.</p><p>Petra whipped out her sword, which ignited, Lukas got into a fighting position, and Jesse flicked out her sword, before improvising and bringing out an axe. It wasn't enchanted, like her sword- just plain iron- but for some reason Jesse felt more comfortable holding the two weapons rather than just the one.</p><p>Gill flicked out his sword, Jesse using her eight legs to drop back and then straighten up again, as Lukas darted forward and clanged his claws against Aiden's sword, Petra rushing forward to engage Maya with her flaming sword.</p><p>Jesse brought her sword up to block Gill's, and the two of them pushed back at each other, both glaring at each other, before Jesse brought her lower arm, the one holding the axe, up to clang against the sword, and the extra leverage sent Gill to the ground.</p><p>Jesse hesitated to actually hurt him, which ended up costing her as he kicked out and knocked her to the floor.</p><p>"Let's go!" Aiden ordered his friends, who both followed him into the glowing blue portal doorway.</p><p>"We've got to follow them!" Ivor shouted, rushing over and helping Jesse and Petra up (Petra pulling her arm away and muttering something about how she was fine), "If they get the Eversource... who knows what trouble they'll cause!"</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before nodding, eyes hardening. "We're going after Aiden. And we've GOT to make sure he doesn't actually hurt someone."</p><p>So with that, all four of them charged through the portal.</p><p>It was different from a Nether Portal, which was icy hot, or an End portal, which was burning you alive. This just felt like walking through one of those curtains made of hanging beads that some people like to put in their doorways- like they were rearranging atoms just to get through.</p><p>Jesse let out a yelp as gravity disappeared beneath her, and she fell- slamming full force into Ivor, who, to her absolute <em>horror</em>, nearly <em>fell off the edge</em> of this floating bit of land. Kind of like a 'sky island', if Jesse had to describe it.</p><p>And then Ivor started to fall and Jesse realized that she'd have bigger worries if she didn't <em>catch him right now holy crap.</em> "Don't worry! I've got you!" she cried out, grabbing hold of Ivor's hand and yanking hard on it.</p><p>Jesse pulled, and pulled, and slowly Ivor managed to get his other foot back on solid land and come back on, both of them panting with exertion. "... you are <em>surprisingly</em> heavy," she panted out, hands on her knees as Petra and Lukas trotted over.</p><p>"I am... the proportionate weight for my height... thank you very much," Ivor huffed out, hands also on his knees, although he really didn't seem all that annoyed. Jesse's heart was thudding at a million miles an hour out of shock.</p><p>"There ya go," Lukas said, patting Ivor on the back comfortingly, "Easy now."</p><p>Ivor sent the blonde ocelot hybrid a look that even Jesse couldn't decipher. And Jesse had gotten pretty good at reading Ivor. "Yes, thank you, thank you!"</p><p>"There's nothing but sky below us," Jesse said, looking over the edge to see nothing but fluffy white clouds, "just... clouds, really, just empty... sky!" Great. Wow. Jesse should be a poet.</p><p>"I've traveled all over our world," Ivor murmured, "nearly to every corner... and there has always been land or water beneath me... you could just fall forever. And ever. And ever."</p><p>"Good thing none of us have a fear of heights, right?" Jesse joked feebly.</p><p>All of them chuckled weakly, before turning around and looking around their little sky island. Jesse went over to the opposite edge before leaning over, to see an elaborate city, also floating in the sky, beneath them.</p><p>"Hey, uh... you guys see that?" Jesse questioned.</p><p>"What?" Lukas asked.</p><p>"So very strange," Ivor murmured, looking down beneath them at the city, before his dark blue eyes lit up and he started jumping up and down. Once again, Ivor was fanboying.</p><p>"Wow. Looks like it's.. a city, I think? That's incredible," Jesse said, impressed by what she could see of it through the faint clouds and from this distance.</p><p>"That's it!" Ivor burst out, "that's where it must be! The Eversource!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0079"><h2>79. Unauthorized Building</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"A city in the clouds," Petra hummed, "it almost sounds impossible."</p><p>"I just don't know how we're gonna reach it," Lukas frowned, crossing his arms and looking down at the city.</p><p>"Yeah, my silk does NOT extend that long. And Petra cannot carry riders down."</p><p>"Not unless you want me to drop you."</p><p>"Yes, unless that."</p><p>Jesse pinched her lips together, before kneeling down and leaning over and looking down, down, down, to see that the underside of the actual island was much bigger than it first looked.</p><p>"Hm... the underside of this island is much, much bigger than it appears," Jesse mused, before turning back to her friends.</p><p>"Really?" Lukas asked, surprised.</p><p>Ivor touched his lip, dark blue eyes gleaming with thought. "Yes... if we strip this whole island down to almost nothing... it just might be enough."</p><p>Jesse and the others started digging through the dirt, until they were literally standing on a four block island that they really would've been LUCKY to not fall off. "Stop pushing!" Ivor snapped at Petra.</p><p>"I'm not pushing!" Petra snapped back, "Lukas is pushing!"</p><p>"I'm just trying to keep away from the edge!" Lukas exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air nervously.</p><p>"It's all edge!"</p><p>"Guys, focus!" Jesse exclaimed, "I think that'll do it. Let's make ourselves a bridge, huh?"</p><p>The four of them started putting down blocks, but Ivor stopped to build something (Jesse didn't see what), and soon it got to the point where Jesse was standing on a narrow strip of dirt, trying not to trip, before she relievedly stooped and put a block there, walking onto the city ledge. "Okay, this is our stop! Everyone off!" Jesse joked, walking forward.</p><p>Petra turned around and then facepalmed, making Jesse and Lukas turn around. "Ivor... seriously?"</p><p>Ivor had built a skull with lava pouring out of its eyes.</p><p>Jesse let out a loud snort, leaning into Lukas to try to stop her laughter, although the ocelot hybrid was also furiously trying to smother his giggles.</p><p>"You're building."</p><p>The four of them turned to a man with black hair, staring at them as if they'd just come from the sky. Jesse didn't know how to retract her arms back in, and frankly she didn't much care, even as his eyes flicked over Jesse's arms, Lukas's ears and tail, he didn't say anything, gawking at them.</p><p>"I- you- I don't-"</p><p>"Hey there!" Jesse said, trying to be friendly, "Love what you did with your town!"</p><p>"Yeah, it's very flashy. You help build it?" Lukas asked, also being friendly, giving the man a small smile.</p><p>The man stared, his mouth open in shock, stepping back in fear as his hands shook.</p><p>Jesse put her hands up (all of them) in a reassuring gesture, as if to say 'We come in peace'. Like one of those weird sci-fi movies her brother-</p><p>Jesse felt another chill race up her spine, shaking her head furiously. Brother? What in the world was Jesse talking about? She didn't have a brother. She hadn't known anyone until she was four...</p><p>No, no, she could see her brother. Almost clearly, for some reason. He looked familiar.</p><p>Jesse squeezed her eyes shut. He had... he had dark brown hair. Like Aiden's, only.. more like chocolate brown. And- and his eyes- they were the same shade of green hers were, they- they were the same shape. And- and he had-</p><p>The memory faded, still there but out of reach. Jesse thumped her forehead insistently, but the memory was gone, only the image of her brother burned into her mind lingering. Parts of him still seemed out of focus, but on the whole, she was remembering him.</p><p>Why was she remembering a brother she'd never had?</p><p>She decided to put the thought away for now, and removed her hand as the poor guy finally stammered out, "Y-you were building. Unauthorized building is against the law!"</p><p>"Wait," and Petra held up her hand, eyes widening incredulously, "there's a <em>law</em> saying people can't <em>build</em>?"</p><p>The man nodded furiously, eyes wide. "Yes! It's forbidden!"</p><p>Jesse winced. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry, we had no idea," she apologized, immediately- the guy still looked as though Jesse had whipped out an axe, declared herself to a murderer, and then gone chasing after him with said axe.</p><p>"Oh geez," the man said softly to himself, "first those other outsiders... now you..."</p><p>Lukas's eyes widened. "Other outsiders?" he asked, tail flicking. "Where are they?"</p><p>"They went to the inn," blurted the man, continuing his backwards retreat, "I'm sorry, but that's all I know."</p><p>"Wait, but what in-"</p><p>"I'm super busy sorry!" And the guy was gone, having fled into the city.</p><p>Petra frowned, crossing her arms. "Annnd he's gone."</p><p>"Darn," Lukas huffed, as they all trooped into the city through the door the other guy had rushed through, before her eyes widened, even as Ivor asked, "Do you think everyone here is that nervous?"</p><p>The city was made of gold, quartz, and some purple wool. It was built beautifully, and it looked as though it had never gotten dirty in it's life. If cities had lives. There was a sort of palace at the back, but in the middle there were booths, stalls, buildings.</p><p>"Wow," Lukas summarized everything Jesse was feeling up.</p><p>Jesse tilted her head in agreement, still gaping. "Who <em>built</em> this place? It's gorgeous," she breathed.</p><p>"You said it," Petra said, putting one hand on her hip. Tomboy she might be, but Petra was a sucker for aesthetics. Of... buildings, not people. Petra could probably care less about what some girl was wearing or what lipstick a girl was wearing or other nonsense like that.</p><p>"Whoever it was must have had the Eversource!" Ivor said, also staring around the buildings, "it's the only explanation for the copious amounts of rare materials they used to build it! When I get my hands on it-"</p><p>"How about," Petra suggested, giving the over-excited potionologist a glare, "how about you take a MASSIVE chill pill, and we FIND it first?"</p><p>"Yes, that would be nice," Jesse put in, trying not to sound terribly amused by the whole situation.</p><p>"Yes, yes, yes," Ivor said, waving it off, "I'm just getting excited. Or, like Jesse puts it, fanboying."</p><p>Jesse had to dive behind Lukas to stifle the laughter that was threatening to explode out of her mouth.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0080"><h2>80. Milo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lukas stopped smothering his own laughter, his face going serious. "As crazy as Aiden's being lately, if he gets that thing? ... that would be bad."</p><p>Jesse stood up, her own giggles disappearing. "You're right. And that's putting it lightly."</p><p>"If we beat him to it, he won't be able to get his slimy little hands on the thing!" Petra responded, glaring at a pebble as if that pebble was Aiden and she wanted to drop-kick him off the edge of the island.</p><p>"We just need to find that nervous guy mentioned," Jesse reasoned, "How hard could it be?"</p><p>"No idea," Lukas responded, almost cutting Jesse off, "but it's definitely our best bet so far."</p><p>Ivor gave a terse nod. "Agreed." And then they all split up.</p><p>Jesse leaned against a wall. Once again, in less than two months, Jesse was already in another crazy adventure that involved tracking down that flint and steel that she'd gotten from the temple.</p><p>They'd only read about temples back in the lab. Especially when Jesse was young. Her brother would-</p><p>Jesse let out a gasp, clutching at her head with her topmost set of arms, as pain shot through her head.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"Jess, look at this!" called out a soft little voice.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse turned over in her bedcovers to look at the excited brown-haired boy on the floor, his tail wagging as his ears perked up. "It's so pretty!" he cooed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Tossing the bedcovers off with her lower arms, Jesse crawled over to look at what her brother was looking at so happily. She nodded when a picture of a pretty building came into view. "Cool!" she agreed, kneeling down next to him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah! When we get outta here," and her brother looked at her, beaming, "I wanna build something like that!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We can do it together," Jesse reasoned, smiling right back, "just like we always do!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah!" and he grinned at her happily, green eyes crinkling up, and Jesse just couldn't help but smile right back at the boy. "Jesse promise?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Jesse promise," and the two kids bumped fists, high-fived, and then entwined their pinkies, before the boy giggled and pulled his sister into a warm hug. "I love you, Jesse."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And Jesse smiled softly, green and red eyes closing as she wrapped all six of her arms around her best and only friend in the world. "I love you too, Jesse."</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse let out a little gasp and shook her head again. What was that?! Her brother was a hybrid too... something with a tail?</p><p>She kept her head in her hands, trying to steady her uneven breathing. They were both named Jesse... they'd even made up their own handshake... the two of them couldn't have been more than three or four in that memory, how old were they? ... Jesse hadn't known her friends then...</p><p>"Can't believe they just <em>built</em> their way right into town..."</p><p>Jesse looked up, feeling the last bit of the headache fade as she saw a woman talking to the nervous guy they'd met earlier. Putting away the thought for later scrutiny, Jesse trotted over to the two, even as the nervous guy said, almost excitedly, "I know, I've never seen anything like it!"</p><p>"Um.. hello?" Jesse asked, a little shyly.</p><p>Both whirled to face her, nervous looks on their faces. "Oh! Hello. Can we, uh, do anything for you?" the girl asked, with a nervous grin.</p><p>Jesse blinked, before giving them a small smile. "Ah, yeah, could you two point me in the direction of the inn?" she asked, before giving them a polite smile.</p><p>"They must be looking for Milo-"</p><p>The girl furiously shushed him, and the guy whirled back to Jesse. "I mean, no! We don't know any Milo."</p><p>He glanced at a nearby alleyway nervously, before looking back at Jesse with that equally nervous look.</p><p>"Really," Jesse said, arching her eyebrow. "Because... it sure SOUNDS like you know him..."</p><p>"Uh... okay, okay, we know OF him," the guy said, looking around, before leaning in and dropping his voice to a whisper, "If you really, really want to find him..."</p><p>"He's the kind of... messy looking guy," the girl whispered.</p><p>"Suspenders always falling down," the guy added with a nod.</p><p>"So messy!"</p><p>Jesse blinked a little at that. "Uh... thanks. I guess? I'll leave ya to it, then." She nodded to them before walking away, going over to where the guy had glanced earlier.</p><p>Looking in, she spotted a blonde guy, and was about to turn away when she spotted one of his suspenders hanging down a bit.</p><p>She paused, then went back, curiosity gleaming in her eyes, before she glanced up. "... yep, all signs point to this guy being the innkeeper. Especially that sign," and she chuckled a bit before going over to him, as he took some sticks and hissed to the person he was talking to, "Go, go!" Turning back to Jesse, he arched his eyebrow. "Uh, why, hello there. What can I do for you?"</p><p>"Uh, hi, sorry to bother you," Jesse said, feeling slightly embarrassed, "Are you.. um, Milo?"</p><p>Milo was quiet for a moment, before rubbing his head. "Yes... yes that's me. A pleasure to meet you. As I've... never seen you before... I assume you must be a new arrival in Sky City. Don't see many of those. Incidentally, why do you have four extra arms?"</p><p>Jesse looked down at herself, realizing she'd actually forgotten that they'd existed. Typical. "Ah. Um... it's just how I am. I have four extra arms," she said, a bit sheepishly, not wanting to go into the whole laboratory-scientists-hybrid thing.</p><p>"Ah. Now... I'm rather sorry I can't help you, but, as I told those other outsiders-"</p><p>"Hey. This our guy?"</p><p>And Jesse felt a small smile come over her face as she turned around to see her friends coming up to them, some with smiles on their faces, some not. In this case, Lukas was smiling, Petra was smirking, and Ivor had a curious look on his face.</p><p>This oughtta be interesting.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0081"><h2>81. The Founder Makes an Appearance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"How many of you ARE there?" Milo asked, looking rather disgruntled at this point. "I told you, I can't help you!"</p><p>"He hasn't told you anything yet?" Ivor arched his eyebrow, crossing his arms suspiciously at him.</p><p>"'S he hiding them somewhere?" Petra asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the other blonde.</p><p>"I am uncomfortable with this line of questioning," and Milo crossed his arms, glaring back at them.</p><p>Jesse made a move to rest her hand on his shoulder, but then she forced herself to stop. Since she was a stranger, he probably would be more creeped out than reassured, what with her six arms and all. So she just put all of her hands up in surrender. "Come on, you can trust me," she said sincerely, crossing her heart and then putting her hand over her eye, "Nothing bad is going to happen. Just help us, please?"</p><p>"Fine!" Milo huffed, "if it will make you leave me a lone, that 'Aiden' fellow DID come talk to me earlier. Wanted to know where the Eversource was."</p><p>"Called it!" Ivor called out, waving his arm.</p><p>Milo huffed again at Ivor's interruption. "I just told him what everyone else already knows- the Eversource is in the palace with the Founder. That's all that happened, I swear."</p><p>Petra growled slightly, gold eyes beginning to heat up in anger. "What a bunch of creeps," she growled through gritted teeth.</p><p>Milo nodded, a bit more nicely this time. "Yes, I wasn't terribly fond of them."</p><p>Jesse scratched her head, her lower arms crossing. "So... where is Aiden now?" she mused, partially to herself.</p><p>"The group left for the palace, and I haven't seen them since," Milo responded, shrugging slightly.</p><p>"Attention!" called a voice, making the whole group look around quickly, "attention, everyone! Just a moment of your time, please. Emergency meeting in the Founder's Garden! Attendance is mandatory!" Jesse spotted a guard walking along behind them, the citizens of Sky City trailing after him.</p><p>Milo scowled. "Oh... slime blocks!" And he walked briskly towards them.</p><p>"Curious," Ivor hummed, "I wonder what that's all about."</p><p>And they all came around the corner to stand behind the crowd that had gathered, as they all whispered and murmured. "Oh! It's the Founder!"</p><p>A young(ish) woman with green eyes that were remarkably like Jesse's, pale skin, black hair, and rather nicely done makeup wearing a gold robe came up to the front of the crowd. Her posture made Jesse straighten up, even as she looked out over the crowd.</p><p>And then Jesse's eyes narrowed. Coming up beside and behind her was Aiden and the Blaze Rods, the Founder giving Aiden a small smile.</p><p>"You've <em>got</em> to be kidding me," she groaned.</p><p>"What are you- oh," Petra responded, staring at the group as well.</p><p>"People of Sky City!" the Founder started speaking ("They were certainly creative with their naming," Ivor grumbled. "Shht!" Lukas hushed), "I'm sorry to pull you from your duties, but something urgent has come to my attention. A crime has been committed."</p><p>The crowd started muttering again.</p><p>"Please, remain calm. Earlier today, outsiders built a bridge into our fair city from a distant island!"</p><p>Jesse dropped her head forward into her hands in what could really only be called a facepalm. "... and by earlier today, she means ten minutes ago," she grumbled softly, as the gates opened to reveal the bridge they'd built.</p><p>"Now, whether these outsiders know it or not, this is a violation of Sky City's most sacred law: no <em>unauthorized</em> building."</p><p>"Wait, was that you?"</p><p>Jesse started a bit, and Petra nearly hit Milo in the face as they leaned around Petra, all of them turning to look at the innkeeper, "Are you the bridge builders?"</p><p>"I didn't know it was <em>illegal</em>," Jesse groaned, putting her hand to her nose and pinching the bridge of it in frustration.</p><p>The Founder listened to Aiden's whispers, before she continued, "Jesse, wherever you are, step forward now. I have already been informed of your identity."</p><p>To use Milo's term, slime blocks.</p><p>"I appreciate that you may be ignorant of our laws, but I will warn you: Sky City is small, and I promise that if you try to hide, I will find you."</p><p>"Not likely," Jesse grumbled, crossing her arms with a soft huff and scowling at her feet. She WAS good at hiding, much better than even Lukas or Olivia, back when they'd needed to hide for some tests. For a spider hybrid, she was quite flexible.</p><p>Ivor turned to Jesse, and whispered, "We need to get to that Eversource at whatever cost. This is clearly our fastest way into the castle!"</p><p>"Yes, but at what cost? We'd be in the dungeon, we wouldn't be able to get out if our lives depended on it!" Jesse pointed out, trying not to flail her arms too much.</p><p>"Don't be fooled by the Founder's lies," Milo whispered, softly, "I can help you come up with a plan to get into the palace."</p><p>Ivor hesitated, before giving a reluctant nod. "Fair enough, I see your point," Ivor said softly.</p><p>"That's them!"</p><p>Well crap, Aiden had spotted them! Guards were starting to come towards them.</p><p>"Run!" Jesse hissed, and bolted after Petra and Milo, Lukas following. Ivor turned to follow but was grabbed by a guard, and he let out a yelp as the guard yanked him back.</p><p>"Ivor!" Jesse cried, skidding to a stop at the sight of her mentor being captured by the guards.</p><p>Lukas shoved her quickly into the alley, seeing her hesitation. "Jesse, run, run!" he yelped, as a guard tackled him to the floor and knocked the slight boy over.</p><p>Jesse stood there for a moment, torn between helping Lukas or following Petra, but Lukas's parting words gave her a jolt of energy, and she spun on her heel and raced after Petra and the blonde innkeeper.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0082"><h2>82. Sky City Chases</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse sprinted down the alleyway, not looking after her. Dropping to all eights to gain speed, she quickly cut around a corner, dodging around it quickly. A thud as one guard skidded to a stop in time, but the other didn't and they both collided with the wall. Shooting under two guard's reaching arms, she veered around another corner, and dodged behind a wall just in time, straightening up so that she was standing properly.</p><p>Guards went charging past, some only feet away.</p><p>A few minutes later, there were no guards. Milo poked his head out around the corner, looking around, before waving his arms in a 'come on' gesture and hurrying back to the inn, all of them looking around to make sure no one was there.</p><p>"Just in here, yes," Milo huffed, as they all burst into the inn.</p><p>The two girls skidded to a halt to avoid slamming full-force into Milo, all of them panting slightly. "There's nowhere to hide in here!" Petra puffed, "It's a dead end!"</p><p>"Before I can take you two any further," Milo said, breathing heavily and turning to them, "you must taken an oath."</p><p>Petra let out a loud groan. Jesse was fairly certain her friend was considering hiding in the fireplace at this point. "I think they went this way!" muffled voices sounded.</p><p>"You must swear to never reveal what I am about to show you."</p><p>Jesse crossed her heart and covered her eye. "Milo, I solemnly swear that I will never tell your secret to anyone else," she said hurriedly, chancing a glance backwards.</p><p>"Fantastic," Milo grinned, before turning to look at the bartender. "Phillipe?"</p><p>Phillipe nodded, and toggled something.</p><p>Pistons moved, revealing a doorway in the wall. "Right this way!" Milo said, extending his arm towards the room, and all three of them wasted no time in hurrying inside the doorway, which shut behind them.</p><p>"This is Build Club," Milo introduced, showing a room full of crafting tables, tables, furnaces, everything that could be used to craft or build. Except, you know, the materials, but that was still pretty good.</p><p>"Whoa," Petra said, blinking in the dim torchlight, as Milo continued, "Everything you see before you was built from resources that my people have saved or... er... obtained."</p><p>"Man," and Petra sounded pretty impressed, "can't be easy to come by some of this stuff living up here. Nice work."</p><p>Jesse nodded, leaning on the railing slightly. "Wow, this is quite the secret hideout, Milo. Very nice!"</p><p>Milo cleared his throat, making the raven-haired girl turn her head to look at him, "It is not a 'hideout', it is a <em>Build Club.</em>"</p><p>"But to <em>have</em> Build Club, you need to have it in a hideout," Jesse pointed out.</p><p>Milo had been opening his mouth, to expound on the wonders of his 'Build Club', but then he paused. "... good point. But, anyway, y'see, a long time a go, I was just a citizen of Sky City, like everyone else. I wanted to build a little community garden, so I put in a petition for some dirt... and, mercy me, the Founder approved it!" And then he rubbed his head sheepishly. "But in my excitement and haste I accidentally dropped my precious new dirt block and it fell... over the edge."</p><p>Petra winced. "Ouch."</p><p>"For my crime, I was tossed into the Founder's dungeons-"</p><p>"But it was an accident!" Jesse exclaimed, "and besides, isn't that a pretty tiny crime?!"</p><p>"No, no, not at all," Milo turned, "I was charged with 'egregious wasting of resources', and in Sky City, that's one of the worst crimes at all. You see, in our world, here in Sky City, when something falls over the edge, it is gone. Forever. But I've always believed in my heart, that just because building is risky, doesn't mean no one should do it! That means no one ever learns!"</p><p>"Hear hear," Petra and Jesse cheered, faintly jokingly.</p><p>"If only I'd known you were all builders sooner," Milo said regretfully, "I would've helped you ALL escape and hide when I first met you, rather than let the boy with the ears-"</p><p>"Lukas," Petra put in.</p><p>"And the man with the black hair-"</p><p>"Ivor," Jesse offered.</p><p>"Be taken," Milo finished, giving the two girls a small glare as he trotted down the steps. "But, at least you are here, yes?"</p><p>Jesse nodded, she and Petra coming down the stairs altogether, "Milo, our friends are in trouble, you HAVE to help us so we can help them."</p><p>"Yes, I know, I-"</p><p>Milo was cut off by a rather gruff voice. "Hey! Milo!"</p><p>Milo turned to see all the members of 'Build Club' coming towards them, none too happy looks on their faces. "Ah. Hello," and Milo smiled sheepishly.</p><p>"Bringing in outsiders?" one asked, sounding annoyed, "seriously?"</p><p>"Pretty hard to keep this a secret club if you just bring people in," another girl said, also sounding rather annoyed.</p><p>The others started closing in on them as they all started shouting and making annoyed sounds.</p><p>Jesse watched as Petra tensed, hand opening as if preparing to grab for her sword. So that meant Jesse'd better start talking. "Hey, hey, we're builders just like you!" she exclaimed, waving all of her hands in the air hurriedly.</p><p>"What's with the extra arms?"</p><p>"I'm a spider hybrid," Jesse responded flatly. She was worried about Ivor and Lukas, and now was really not the time to banter around with them. "I got these arms because I was experimented on as a child. But we're builders, alright? We... um, we built that bridge into town today." Perhaps not the best example, but it was the only one Jesse could think of.</p><p>"What?!" "Dude!" "Milo, are you kidding me?! The most wanted criminals in the whole city?! We gotta turn them in before the guards break our door down!"</p><p>Jesse facepalmed so hard she was pretty sure she'd just bruised her forehead. Okay, apparently that was the wrong thing to say.</p><p>Petra grabbed for her sword instinctively and Jesse reacted, one of her upper arms shooting out and grabbing Petra's wrist in warning while the others all raised placatingly. "Well- no! Let's- let's not do that, okay?"</p><p>
  <em>Okay, Jesse, think. How in Notch's sake are you going to get out of this?</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0083"><h2>83. Build Club</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I assure you," Milo raised his voice helpfully to be heard over the crowd, "harboring them is worth the risk! They are the epitome of Build Club material!" And he patted Jesse on the shoulder.</p><p>"All right then," said one builder somewhat snootily, "if Milo says you're these 'amazing builders'... prove it."</p><p>Jesse's eyes narrowed a bit at him. "All right then. I think I know my way around a crafting table better than you do, at any rate," she responded, crossing all of her arms.</p><p>He put his hands on his hips. "Cocky. Let's see if you can back that up."</p><p>Milo put his hands on her shoulders and steered her away a bit. "Ah, haha, yes..." he dropped his voice to more of a whisper. "We don't know many recipes, so if you just show us something that they build where you come from... they'll be appeased."</p><p>"You're gonna be just fine, Jesse!" Petra said, putting her arms up in support.</p><p>"Jesse, it took us many weeks to scrape together this inventory. Please, use them for your build," and he handed her three iron blocks and four bars of iron.</p><p>Jesse looked at her inventory as she stood in front of two blocks of iron and the crafting table. So, now she had the journal, her sword, that pumpkin head from only a day or so ago, three iron blocks, and the four bars of iron. She considered making an anvil, but she knew Ivor would make a face at that. He never liked doing heavy lift-</p><p>Jesse got an idea, nearly dropping the things she was holding, and almost laughed aloud. Perfect!</p><p>Walking over to the two blocks of iron, Jesse put one down one one side of the topmost block with her lower arms, and then another one on the other side with her middlemost set of arms. And then, taking one step forward, she stood on her tiptoes to tip the pumpkin head onto the T of iron with her top set of arms.</p><p>Slamming together in a clash of metal, a huge, heavy <em>iron golem</em> exploded into being, sending shards of metal clattering across the floor as the room shook slightly.</p><p>Jesse smirked faintly. Thanks for the idea, Ivor!</p><p>All of the Build Club members let out cries of alarm and stepped back, although Petra just looked at it with a small smirk, and then raised an eyebrow at her. Jesse smirked back, the two girls barely able to keep from laughing.</p><p>"Jesse! What is that thing?!" Milo cried out, as everyone stepped backwards and nearly tripped over each other in their haste to get away.</p><p>Jesse shook her head, walking over and patting the golem gently, which looked at her with its dull red eyes. "Everyone! Everyone, please, it's not as bad as it looks, it's... well, actually, it's pretty harmless," she said, looking at the burly thing.</p><p>"But that monster, it- it wants to eat us!"</p><p>"No it doesn't!" Jesse chuckled a bit at that. "Iron golems only do harm if someone orders them to- and I'm fairly certain they don't have mouths. This guy's totally tame!"</p><p>Losing interest in Build Club, the iron golem stumped off the stage.</p><p>"I can see why the guards are after you," one of the girls said, one hand over her heart, "that was awesome!"</p><p>"Right?" Milo said, straightening himself out and dusting himself off, "I told you!"</p><p>"Wowzers," another member said sheepishly, "we're really sorry."</p><p>"I didn't do it to impress you," Jesse said, rubbing her head, "although that was a bonus, but I mainly did it because Milo promised to help us get into the palace, and you guys wouldn't get off his back."</p><p>"Time to make good on your word," Petra said, satisfied, turning to Milo, "right, Milo?"</p><p>Milo nodded, although he seemed a bit off track now. "Ah, yes, of course, of course, that is, after all, why you are here. I must say, though, after seeing you in action, your skills are even more impressive than I could've imagined."</p><p>"I just put two iron blocks and a pumpkin down."</p><p>"Ah, yes, well.. so impressive, that I wonder if I could implore you for a tiny favor. To help me with a once in a lifetime sort of opportunity."</p><p>Jesse and Petra looked at each other. "What sort of favor?" Petra asked, slowly.</p><p>"I help you get into the palace, <em>you</em> help me steal the Eversource for my people."</p><p>Jesse and Petra shared a look, both eyes wide, before Jesse sighed and rubbed her head a bit. "Okay, but my friends are in trouble. If we're going to break into the palace and steal the Eversource, you are going to help me save them, and so help me if you chicken out I will track you down. Got it?" Jesse's tone was pretty light and casual, but all sets of arms were crossed and there was a glint in her left eye.</p><p>Milo gulped, but nodded. "This is an acceptable, and noble arrangement."</p><p>And then Jesse nodded brightly. "Good," she said cheerfully.</p><p>Milo clapped his hands together, sharply. "Now. As for how to get INTO the palace... according to my informants, the Founder keeps the Eversource behind a secret door located in her throne room."</p><p>"Dramatic," Petra joked.</p><p>"Every night the Founder leaves guards at every door... but there is a single window at the back of the palace that is left unguarded. It is an almost perfect point of entry... but it is far too high."</p><p>Jesse actually laughed at that, both hybrid girls doubling over and giggling. Build Club stared at the two hybrids puzzledly.</p><p>Jesse straightened back up, doing her best to stop laughing. "Haha, sorry, sorry. But that is definitely not an issue." Jesse tugged on her gloves slightly, a mischievous grin on her face. "All I have to say is... I do hope you're not afraid of heights, Milo."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0084"><h2>84. Sneaking In</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse crept along the ground faster than a normal human could've, while Petra hovered a couple inches- just so they didn't make much noise.</p><p>Milo got to ride on Jesse's back, an arrangement Jesse was not too happy with initially but had since gotten used to.</p><p>... especially considering the fact that it felt a bit comfortable.</p><p>"This is the most awkward thing I've ever done," Milo whispered.</p><p>"Ditto," Jesse hissed back. She felt a bit like a spider jockey right now, only with a human on her back rather than a skeleton.</p><p>There was a small window, high up on the wall that Jesse had pointed out earlier. "Okay, my friends," Milo whispered as he climbed off, "this should take us right into the throne room. Once inside, we will just need to find the secret entrance that the Founder supposedly uses... but how are we getting up there?"</p><p>Jesse stood up, looked at the window, and fired a strand of silk from her palm, so that it soared through the opening and landed just inside. Her arms moving quickly but as quietly as possible, Jesse made a wider sort of web-ladder. "After you," she joked to Milo, bowing to the blonde.</p><p>Milo climbed up the makeshift ladder, as Petra hovered up and into the room and Jesse just shot another strand of silk and retracted herself in.</p><p>Jesse looked around the throne room, eyes widening slightly. It really <em>was</em> a very nicely built room, with a nice open little 'garden' towards the back. Also a throne made of gold. Can't forget the throne. And really there was a lot more, bookshelves and poppies, and a high ceiling, and, well, Soren couldn't have done any better, really.</p><p>Jesse was distracted as she heard a rather muffled voice ask, "then what did SHE say?"</p><p>The door began creaking open.</p><p>"Guards!" Petra hissed, "<em>Hide!</em>"</p><p>Milo ducked behind one of the large banners hanging on the wall, while Jesse shot herself into a corner of the ceiling, barely keeping herself braced in place, while Petra hovered up as high as she could, adjusting herself so she was in a different corner.</p><p>"Okay, the throne room was in here..."</p><p>Jesse let out a relieved sigh as Ivor and Lukas trotted into the room, both at the fact that it was NOT a guard, and at the fact that Ivor and Lukas were okay!</p><p>"Guys!" Jesse called down, dropping to the floor and practically tackling both of them in a hug. "You're okay!"</p><p>"Jesse! Petra!" Lukas laughed, patting Jesse on the back as Ivor's dark blue eyes, unbeknownst to Jesse, softened slightly at the hug. "Boy am I glad to see you guys!"</p><p>"Well, we WERE here to rescue you," Jesse said, wryly releasing both of them, "but I think we're a bit late for that."</p><p>Lukas let out a laugh, covering his mouth so as to not make too much noise. "Haha, yeah, we broke out ourselves. It's a good thing you guys are here," he added, his smile fading, "Aiden's going after the Eversource!"</p><p>"Which we obviously can't abide," Ivor added drily, "So we're here to get it first!"</p><p>"Fantastic!" Milo whispered, "that's what we're here for as well."</p><p>Lukas gave Jesse a look, ears twitching. "Uh, this... who's this again? I'm assuming he's cool?"</p><p>"Oh yeah. Milo, Lukas. Lukas, Milo. Milo, Ivor. Ivor, Milo." Jesse made a slight face at the long list of introductions, making Petra snort a bit and Ivor smirk at her face... just like he'd used to back in-</p><p>Jesse slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the cry she made, pain stabbing her head.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"Ivor, look at this!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor looked obligingly at the little spider hybrid, who stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. He smirked slightly at that. "Very nice, Jesse," he said, sounding rather amused at that.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse giggled, pleased at the reaction, and turned to her left to make a face at...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>... at...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>That's funny... she'd used to like to make faces to someone, who'd make them back. Someone else?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Why couldn't she remember?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Was it herself?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She remembered calling them Jesse.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But no... this was...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A year ago?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But a year ago, she didn't have a name. The scientists called her...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>... called her... what? Did they call her something? Did they call her by her real name?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Did she ever have a real name in the first place?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>What was going on?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Jesse?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse blinked up at the dark-haired Order of the Stone member, who was looking at her in concern. "Are you okay?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse nodded, shaking off her confused, muddled thoughts. "Mmhm!" she nodded vigorously, short, fluffy locks bouncing around.</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Jesse! Jesse? Are you okay?"</p><p>Jesse looked up into Petra's concerned, gold eyes. "Yeah... sorry, just- headache, is all," and Jesse smiled at them brightly to try to convince them.</p><p>Inside though, she was confused.</p><p>This was only a year after the previous memory, she was fairly certain.</p><p>So why didn't she remember having a brother then?</p><p>Come to think of it, why could she barely remember anything past her fourth birthday?</p><p>"The Founder's secret entrance," Milo was saying, as she forced herself to shove the musing and wondering and confusion to the back of her mind, "is supposed to be somewhere in this throne room..."</p><p>"Well, if it's somewhere in here, we'll find it," Jesse said, punching her hand into her palm, before they all split up to look through the room. Jesse went to go poke around the bookcase, putting her hands on her knees as she read a random book title. "'Habits of the Endermen', by... Soren?!" she exclaimed, eyes widening as she straightened back up, "well I was NOT expecting that."</p><p>Walking away from the bookcase and searching around the room, looking at the ceiling, and then the floor, and then everything else, Jesse saw some minecart tracks leading to a wall. There was also a trail of redstone next to the tracks.</p><p>"I'm getting a rather 'door' vibe from this," Jesse joked, as Lukas trotted up next to her, his ears and tail flicking with interest. "Yeah... wonder what happened to it?"</p><p>Jesse looked at the floor, putting a hand to her lip. "Hm, just need to make something to activate this redstone circuit again... there's gotta be something in here that we can use..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0085"><h2>85. Meet the Eversource</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse wandered outside, feeling the night wind against her face. She relaxed for a moment, staring at the dark sky and stars that glittered everywhere, before wandering over to a block of lava blocked by some cobblestone and some water.</p><p>"A cobblestone generator!"</p><p>Jesse nearly fell into the lava as Ivor popped up a little behind her, dark blue eyes wide. "Lava and water placed exactly far enough, that when they collide... it creates cobblestone! Genius!" he exclaimed, walking back into the throne room.</p><p>Jesse put her hands on her hips, before punching through the cobblestone and scooping it up, watching as the water and the lava rushed together, a new piece of cobblestone sitting there where Jesse had just taken it.</p><p>"Ingenious," Ivor whispered.</p><p>"See anyone yet?" Jesse called softly over to Petra.</p><p>Petra glanced back at her from where she was keeping watch near the door. "Not yet, but the acoustics are funky in this place, so it's hard to tell when people are coming," she called back.</p><p>Jesse gave her friend a thumbs' up before looking back around the whole place, spotting one tree that was sitting next to a little waterfall. "I get the feeling that this is a 'special' tree," she hummed.</p><p>Milo nodded as he came up next to her, to look at the tree. "Yes, the ground you're standing on is actually the original island that all of Sky City started from. That tree dropped the saplings that grew into every tree on the island. I may not agree with the Founder's methods," he added, rubbing his head, "but even I must admit that's an impressive feat."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow and looked at the tree more respectfully. "Mmm, I guess I'd better not cut it down then..." She looked around, before spotting a dead bush.</p><p>Walking over to it, she looked at the dead bush reluctantly, before drawing her fist back and punching it. The dead bush collapsed into a sort of stick, which Jesse picked up and went over to the crafting table right beside her. "Okay, let's make a lever, then," she hummed, sticking down one stone block, and then a stick on top of it. The ingredients shivered together to make a simple lever.</p><p>"Okay, this'll do... I think. I hope," Jesse said, taking the lever off the table- and nearly running straight into Milo as she turned around. She leapt back with a yelp, heart pounding. "Don't do that!" she said, weakly.</p><p>"My apologies," Milo apologized, fidgeting, "It is still just such a THRILL to see someone so confident and sure in their building abilities."</p><p>"Thanks," Jesse said, as he trotted back into the living room. Shaking off the fright, Jesse headed back over to the redstone circuit. Setting down the lever, she flipped it. The doors made quite a bit of noise as they slid up, several minecarts sliding out as the secret door revealed a rather large hill that went downwards.</p><p>"This has to be it!" Ivor exclaimed, excitedly.</p><p>Jesse bounced up and down on her feet. "Oh boy, I'm all excited! Let's go!" she said, cheerfully, hopping into the first one, then Ivor, then Petra, then Lukas, and finally Milo, as the minecarts slowly started moving, rushing down a rather twisty track.</p><p>"I think I might be sick," Milo called out as they rushed down the tracks.</p><p>"What, now?!" Petra yelped, twisting over her shoulder to look at the blonde innkeeper.</p><p>Lukas's ears twitched. "Milo, if you throw up on me..."</p><p>The minecarts screeched to a loud stop, making Jesse jolt forward a bit, clutching onto the rim of the minecarts tightly and carefully.</p><p>Climbing out, Jesse gaped at all the chests in the room. "Oh my god, look at all these chests!" she exclaimed, turning her head to look at all the chests lining the room.</p><p>"Yeah, and they're all labeled?" Petra wondered, following her.</p><p>Milo, still looking a tad pale, read off some of the signs. "Creeper, zombie, sheep, pigman... curious."</p><p>Jesse reached into the chest reading 'Sheep', and drew out... an egg, with pinkish spots.</p><p>Lukas's brow quirked. "Eggs? The sign says 'sheep', not 'eggs'," he pointed out, as everyone crowded around the spider hybrid.</p><p>Jesse shrugged as Petra said, questioningly, "Might as well throw it and give it a shot?"</p><p>Jesse stood up, tossing the egg once, before lobbing it at the opposite wall with a bit of force. The egg cracked, and out toppled a sheep, which bleated rather loudly.</p><p>"A sheep," Petra hummed, thoughtfully.</p><p>"Is that a monster?" Milo questioned, "that is not so bad. It is fluffy."</p><p>"So is Lukas's hair," and Jesse petted Lukas's head, making him squint his eyes a bit in pleasure as a soft purring came out of his lungs.</p><p>Petra crossed her arms, thoughtfully. "The eggs all have creatures inside them..."</p><p>Lukas, having apparently poked through a couple chests, came back with an ocelot egg (one of the ocelot chests was open) and a Blaze egg (a Blaze chest was open). "And they're all different colors. They must be, y'know, color coded to what's inside them."</p><p>Petra reached out, taking the Blaze egg and looking at it. "So... she can just spawn things whenever she wants to."</p><p>Jesse touched her lip, with a thoughtful hum. "So... the Eversource makes spawn... egg... things?" she mused.</p><p>Wandering into the room past the chests, Jesse spotted a pair of eyes peeking over the edge.</p><p>Jesse slowly approached, hands open defensively, as out stumbled... a chicken.</p><p>Jesse proceeded to 'awww' at the chicken, because it was wearing a little crown.</p><p>"Incredible!" Milo exclaimed. Jesse wasn't sure if he meant because the chicken was wearing a crown... or because he'd never seen a chicken before. Both were valid options.</p><p>Jesse narrowed her eyes at it... and then the truth practically hit her like a sledgehammer. "You guys... meet the Eversource."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0086"><h2>86. Fall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Petra stared at the little chicken with the adorable crown with deadpan eyes. "What."</p><p>"No way," Lukas said, putting his hands on his hips.</p><p>Jesse shrugged at the denial. "It makes sense, though, doesn't it? The spawn eggs are all over the place. And where else do you get eggs from but-"</p><p>"A <em>chicken</em>," Ivor finished Jesse's sentence for her, putting his hands on his hips with a rather impressed look, "Yes, it's so simple!"</p><p>Jesse nodded at that. "So the chicken lays the eggs, the egg makes monsters, and the loot from the monsters made Sky City!" she said, clapping her hands together. And then staring at her lower arms bemusedly.</p><p>Ivor looked at the chicken, interestedly. "Hmm, we're still taking the Eversource, right?" he asked, thoughtfully, looking at his pupil.</p><p>Lukas gave her mentor a look. "The chicken that the <em>entire city depends on</em>?! Are we sure that's a good idea?" he asked, incredulously.</p><p>"What are you talking about?" Milo argued, "we need to bring it to the people. With it, we'll finally be free of the Founder!"</p><p>"It's cute!" And Jesse leaned over and patted it gently on the back, making the chicken make little clucking sounds in contentment.</p><p>Petra crossed her arms, her brow raising as her lips twitched with amusement. "Yeah, THAT'S what you notice about it," she said, smirking slightly at the spider hybrid.</p><p>"Well it is!" Jesse said defensively, as she went on patting the chicken gently.</p><p>Before anyone could say anything else, Petra was kicked aside with a yell, then Ivor, Lukas dodged out of the way, and finally Milo was kicked out of the way as a blur of gold and black flurried in through them, before the Founder stood in front of Jesse, in a martial arts pose, as the Blaze Rods came up behind them.</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow and stood up, the chicken clucking contentedly on the ground next to her. "Would've been nice to know that you're a martial artist," she hummed thoughtfully.</p><p>"I knew it! I knew you were here to steal from me!" the Founder hissed, eyes practically glowing with fury.</p><p>Jesse looked at the chicken, still clucking on the ground next to her, then back at the Founder. "All I was doing was petting a chicken... let's just talk about this, okay?"</p><p>"I'm not sure there's anything to talk about," the Founder hissed, still in her martial-arts position.</p><p>"It's just like I told you, Founder," Aiden declared, "they're here to steal the Eversource!"</p><p>Jesse threw her arms in the air, making the chicken let out a squawk of alarm. "What was <em>I</em> doing?! I was just petting the chicken!" she complained loudly.</p><p>Lukas's tail was flicking as he 'coughed', although Jesse was pretty sure she could see more than a little amusement in his eyes.</p><p>"Aiden warned me that you were a pack of thieves," the Founder practically growled, straightening up, "and here you are, prepared to make off with the one thing our City depends on to survive!"</p><p>Jesse decided to stop protesting about the whole thing, even as Aiden wandered off in her peripheral vision.</p><p>"Boy," and suddenly Jesse looked over, eyes widening as she saw Aiden reaching into a chest labelled 'CREEPERS', "when you put it like that, I almost feel bad."</p><p>And he turned around, tossing the creeper egg casually. "Yep. 'Fraid I'M going to be taking the chicken. It's mine, now."</p><p>"What?" And Isa looked shaken. "This is outrageous!"</p><p>Aiden just grinned nastily, Jesse leaning down and whispering to the Eversource, "Eversource! Um... uh... Evie, okay? I'm just gonna call you Evie. Evie, run over there, okay?"</p><p>'Evie' just clucked up at her, blankly.</p><p>"<em>Now!</em>" and Jesse hissed, raising all six arms and hissing malevolently, red eye flashing. Evie squawked loudly and ran off, making Jesse whip out her sword and turn back as Aiden chucked the egg at Jesse. Jesse lunged sideways, as the egg burst to reveal a green-skinned creeper.</p><p>"Why didn't we ask Axel to come along," Jesse groaned, lunging back to her feet, as the Founder whipped out two swords to face the creeper- which exploded in her face.</p><p>Jesse let out a shout of alarm as the Founder cried out, her swords going over the edge and the Founder almost following, grabbing onto the edge tightly. "Oh! No, no no no no!" she cried out, clinging to the dirt edge as she kicked and struggled to pull herself back up..</p><p>Jesse turned as Lukas let out a yell. She turned back, seeing Lukas slashing with his claws and catching Aiden in the cheek, shoving back and forth. "I've got Aiden, save the Founder!" he shouted, shoving back.</p><p>Jesse nodded, sheathing her sword, and ran forward, diving forward and catching hold of the woman just as she fell, her lower arms propelling her backwards as Jesse heaved the woman back to safety, both standing rather close to the edge.</p><p>The Founder looked shaken, but she nodded at Jesse shakily. "Thank you..." she said, gratefully, "thank you."</p><p>Jesse nodded, just as Lukas let out a yell and went flying past Jesse- <em>straight into open air.</em></p><p>Jesse screamed, just as time slowed down and Lukas stared at her, mouth open, eyes wide, and suddenly she was back in the Witherstorm, being held by that tentacle, and she could barely breathe because her ribs were being squeezed, crushed by that tentacle, and she was screaming, screaming, screaming, her throat hurt and burned and Lukas suddenly wasn't Lukas anymore, he was Reuben, he was falling, he was <em>falling! </em>Jesse raised her arm to fire a web to catch him- she couldn't miss- she wasn't going to miss, not this time, she couldn't have a repeat of what happened then, no no <em>no no no no-!</em></p><p>And suddenly something hit her in the back, sending Jesse tumbling right into the Founder and knocking them both over the edge, Jesse pivoting midair to see what had just happened-</p><p>And Aiden was smirking, a wicked grin on his marred face, a line of red scratches running down his cheek that stood out on his face as Jesse and Lukas and the Founder were falling, falling, because Jesse hadn't been fast enough.</p><p>Because Jesse was never fast enough.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0087"><h2>87. Isa</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse plummeted through the clouds, not even screaming as the Founder screamed, just staring hopelessly down at the nothingness below.</p><p>Why wasn't she fast enough?</p><p>Why couldn't she be fast enough?</p><p>Why was she never good enough?</p><p>"This is all your fault!" the Founder snapped at her.</p><p>"What did I do?" Jesse asked, slightly defensively as tears were building up in her throat and chest. "All I did was pet your stupid chicken, and go through that <em>stupid</em> portal, and try to save your <em>stupid </em>life, and for what?! What good did that do? What good did I <em>ever</em> do?!" She was yelling now, to be heard over the rushing wind.</p><p>The Founder stared at Jesse perplexedly for a second, before huffing and looking away, as Jesse stared down stubbornly at the clouds beneath them to try to clear the tears forming in her eyes. And that was why she started seeing the shapes that were forming below them, indistinct through the clouds but getting clearer and clearer by the minute. "I can't decide whether I want our death to be painless, for my sake, or excruciating for yours-"</p><p>"Land!" Jesse interrupted, feeling a relieved smile twitch over her face. There was a huge lake beneath them, with some lava pouring into it from Ivor's little statue back on the bridge.</p><p>The Founder looked down, her green eyes widening. "Impossible," she breathed. "That's impossible!" Then she looked up at Jesse, worry in her eyes. "Jesse?"</p><p>Jesse used one of her lower arms to point at the body of water beneath them. "There!" she summarized.</p><p>The Founder looked at where Jesse was pointing. "Can we get to it in time?"</p><p>"If I have anything to say about it, yes!"</p><p>Jesse adjusted her fall, kicking to propel herself through the air towards the water, doing her best to avoid the lava, before quickly adjusting her body so that her head was facing downwards, like a torpedo, before sluicing into the water.</p><p>It stung, though not as much as it would have had Jesse nod adjusted her fall, splashing down into the rather deep lake beneath her with a small yelp.</p><p>Kicking to the surface, Jesse spat out a little stream of water, looking around as the Founder splashed down next to her, before she spotted Lukas hunched down near the lake, water pouring off his hair and ears and tail, clutching his arm, but <em>alive.</em></p><p>"Lukas!" and Jesse kicked to him, flailing her arms, before practically tackling him in a hug. "You're okay!"</p><p>Lukas started a bit, grabbing her with a laugh and a wince. "Jesse! You're down here too?"</p><p>"You made it!" Jesse said, still hugging him, before releasing him and letting him help her out of the water.</p><p>"Yep, and only-" his face tightened with pain- "slightly worse for the wear." And he went back to clutching his arm.</p><p>Jesse looked down as her lower arms started making string and weaving them together. "Hang on, hang on, pull off your armor a second?"</p><p>Lukas did as he was asked, revealing his usual striped white-and-purple T-shirt underneath. Jesse took out her makeshift woven bandage and wrapped it around the top part of his arm, Lukas flinching slightly as she pulled the bandage taut but not complaining. "I'm really sorry I didn't try to help you up there, I- I only had a couple of seconds, everything was happening and moving so fast..." she whispered, feeling tears in her eyes as she tied the bandage on.</p><p>"No, no," and Lukas pulled Jesse into another hug, a quick one this time, "don't worry about it, Aiden was..." he winced slightly, "stronger than I was expecting. It was good of you to try and save the Founder."</p><p>Lukas looked over at the Founder, who was gaping at the trees and the grass and the land around them. "Um, speaking of whom... is she okay? She's just sort of... staring."</p><p>"Let me ask... um, Founder? Miss Founder?" Jesse asked, wincing as she heard the awkward term come out of her mouth, "are you doing okay?" She walked over the dark-haired woman who looked... rather oddly like Jesse, now that Jesse thought about it.</p><p>The Founder shook her head, sounding shaken. "I just- I can't believe it." She looked around, touching the trees, looking at the grass. "This has been down here the <em>whole time...</em>?"</p><p>"I don't blame you," Jesse said hurriedly, putting a hand on the Founder's shoulder and making the woman look at her worriedly. "It does look pretty dangerous, a-and Sky City was too far up. Besides, what if the lake was only recently made or something? They would've still died in the fall. I mean, I do think people will be pretty upset when they learned that this was down here the whole time, but... you weren't just sending citizens down here to check for no reason. You cared about them."</p><p>The Founder gave Jesse a rather grateful look. "Thank you Jesse... but I was too cautious. I didn't want to create false hope... I was so certain that the only thing down here was death."</p><p>Lukas let out a low whistle, looking around him. "Look at this place. Totally untouched biomes, all around us."</p><p>"And a baby spider," Jesse joked, as said baby spider crawled over from where it had been perching in the tree and on top of Jesse, who chuckled slightly. "Hey, hey, watch it, little one," she teased gently, rubbing the spider on the head and making it... uh, 'purr' slightly in pleasure. "I'm ticklish."</p><p>The Founder and Lukas both chuckled at the sight of that, before Isa looked around again, looking almost dizzy. "yes, it's all a little... overwhelming."</p><p>"What do I do now?" the Founder asked, shakily turning back to Jesse.</p><p>"Well, first, take a second. I know this is overwhelming, but you need to relax a minute before we try to get everyone else down here. Just... look around you, it's gorgeous!" Jesse spread her arms out, making the Founder look at her. "And then, of course, we try to get all the citizens down here. And maybe kick Aiden's butt in the process, that would be pretty nice."</p><p>The Founder laughed a little at that. And just like that, her formal, almost queenly nature melted away to reveal a young woman who was really a little awkward. "Hm, yes, that would be nice."</p><p>"Miss... Founder... okay, do you have a name?" Jesse asked, sheepishly, "because I feel rather awkward just calling you 'The Founder'."</p><p>The Founder chuckled at that again, as Jesse finally and gently shooed the baby spider away. "Ah, yes. Call me Isa."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0088"><h2>88. Hey, the Other Portal!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"We should get back up," Jesse said after a moment of silence, and Isa started, dark green eyes widening. "Getting back up. My word, you're right... we need to do that. I hadn't... even thought that far ahead yet." Jesse and Isa walked to the edge of the lake, staring at the familiar reflections for a moment.</p><p>Familiar...</p><p>Jesse looked at the green eyes of her reflection, then the green eyes of the one next to her.</p><p>Why were they so familiar?</p><hr/><p>"<em>Your turn!" Jesse chirped from where he was sitting on the floor, his wolf ears pricked cheerfully as his tail wagged.</em></p><p>
  <em>Jesse considered the two clasped hands he had, looking from one to the other to see if she could figure out which one had the pebble. But before she could choose, the door opened.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Both of the children looked up, a man in a purple suit standing a little behind one of the scientists. "I'll give you... hm, this one." And to both their horror, the scientist approached the little wolf hybrid, arms outstretched. "He's a good little puppy-"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No! Leave me alone!" yelled the little wolf pup, scrabbling so that he was behind his spider hybrid sister. Jesse stood up, shielding him from sight. "Why do you need him?" she cried out, voice echoing in the chamber. "Don't come near him!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The scientist sidestepped Jesse and lifted up the wolf hybrid, who thrashed, snarled, even tried to bite the scientist before the scientist struck him with the flat of their hand, making the little wolf hybrid whimper.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Leave my brother alone!" Jesse yelled, racing towards them, but the scientist casually kicked out and hit Jesse in the stomach, making her double over with a gasp of pain.</em>
</p><p><em>The scientist reached into their pocket as they strolled towards the door, the wolf hybrid still whimpering as Jesse gasped for breath. "I'll come save you!" Jesse choked out, tears forming in her eyes as she stared at her twin, "promise!" And she did their familiar crossing of the heart and covering of the eye, their little oath, </em>their<em> promise. "Jesse promise!"</em></p><p>
  <em>The wolf hybrid reached out for her, crying. "Jess!" he cried out, as the scientist withdrew a remote with a red button on it. "Hm, I've been waiting for the right opportunity to see if the memory chips work."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And his finger pressed down on the button.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse felt pain mounting up in her head, and her hands reached up to claw at her head, tears pouring down her face as the pain grew more acute. "I-it hurts!" she cried out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Stop hurting my sister! Stop hurting her!" Jesse was screaming, and Jess was crying too, trying to stop the pain.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And then suddenly in a part of her mind the chip sparked and she stopped, collapsing to the floor with the sound of screaming ringing in her ears.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hours later, the little girl sat up, pain throbbing through her head, her face wet.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Why was her face wet?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The little girl reached up to touch her face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Did she have a name? She felt like she should.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Why didn't she remember it?</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse was rather rudely yanked out of her thoughts by a flaming zombie hitting the ground right behind her, bursting into smoke. Isa jumped a bit as she turned to look.</p><p>Jesse turned her head to look up, shoving the thoughts to the back of her head, as she looked up to see a flaming skeleton falling towards them.</p><p>Moving quickly, she grabbed Isa's arm and yanked her sideways, the skeleton slamming down where the two of them had just been, exploding into smoke as it did so. Jesse reached up to touch her chest, heart pounding in fear.</p><p>"What's going on up there?" Isa asked, fear in her voice.</p><p>"Aiden must be going crazy with those spawn eggs... monsters everywhere. This is going to be bad," Jesse said, staring up at the sky to check for any more falling monsters.</p><p>Lukas glared at his feet. "I can't believe Aiden could be so... stupid!" he huffed, glowering at his feet.</p><p>"I can't leave my subjects in whatever trouble they're in!" Isa declared, glaring up at the sky, before looking down at the raven-haired girl next to her. "Jesse, will you please help me get back to Sky City? Stop Aiden?"</p><p>"Why would I NOT help you? You're the Founder, and the people definitely need our help. I hope my friends are okay, too," Jesse said, looking back up at the sky.</p><p>Isa looked gratefully at the girl next to her. "Thank you, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse gave Isa a small smile, before spotting a small tower of dirt nearby. It looked like a makeshift beacon.</p><p>Jesse grinned slightly. "Hm, that'll work."</p><p>Lukas nodded, smiling slightly. "I see what you're getting at. Nice."</p><p>"Well, would someone care to explain it to me, please?" Isa asked, sounding fairly annoyed. Jesse chuckled a bit as she turned back to Isa. "You'd better get ready to build something huge. Maybe the biggest thing of your life. We're gonna build a tower of dirt all the way back to Sky City," and the three of them hustled to get to the tower of dirt that was already there. "Grab as much dirt as you can carry!"</p><p>And the two of them (Lukas was holding his arm, and Jesse made him hang back) mined dirt away, so much that soon Jesse's pockets were filled with dirt, her sword, dirt, and dirt. Did I mention dirt?</p><p>"Mmkay, that should do it," Jesse said, picking up one last dirt block.</p><p>Isa had her head tilted, looking at something. "Jesse, what is that?"</p><p>Jesse turned to look, to see the same elaborate shape that she'd seen back in the temple standing there, proudly- almost as if it had been there the whole time. All three of them approached it, Lukas coming down after them. "Just... wow, what are the odds?" Lukas chuckled, staring at the portal.</p><p>"Well, what is it?" Isa asked, curiously.</p><p>"It's the other half of the portal that brought me here," Jesse hummed, looking at the gold, before turning back to Isa, as Lukas nodded, "Yeah, what a relief. I mean, once you get that flint and steel back, it should just be a straight shot home, now."</p><p>Climbing back out of the hole to the tall tower of dirt, Jesse turned back to the other two. "Well guys, ya ready?"</p><p>Isa nodded, shakily. "Yes, I- I think so."</p><p>Lukas winced as he moved his arm, moving it back into place. "I, uh... think I've actually gotta sit this one out, Jesse. I'm still not 100 percent after my little 'duel' with Aiden. Not sure I'm up to towering all the way back to Sky City. I'm really sorry."</p><p>Eyes shining with concern, Jesse reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Make sure you're okay, okay? I promise to hit Aiden for you."</p><p>Lukas chuckled a little at that, and he moved to sit against a tree, moving slowly.</p><p>"There ya go," Jesse said, petting him on the head and making him close his eyes with a soft purr.</p><p>"Yes, thank you... for trying to help," Isa thanked him, "it was very noble of you."</p><p>Lukas arched his eyebrow at them with a chuckle. "What's with the 'last goodbye' tone? I'll see you guys when you get back."</p><p>Jesse nodded, reaching out and giving his hand a squeeze, before turning to Isa. "C'mon. We've got an epic climb ahead of us."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0089"><h2>89. Chaos</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse climbed up onto the dirt surrounding the dirt tower. "We've got a city to save. Ready?" and she smiled down at Isa.</p><p>Isa nodded, firmly. "I believe so. And when I get up there I am going to tear those Blaze Rods limb from limb."</p><p>"That's what I wanna hear!" Jesse joked. Well, half. Yes, she was half joking.</p><p>Half.</p><p>The two of them started to turn to the dirt tower, when Isa paused. "Oh, and... Jesse? I appreciate what you did up there. Trying to save me, I mean."</p><p>It started to rain, water pouring down from the heavens as Jesse gave Isa another smile, before they started stacking dirt blocks, stacking them as fast as humanly possible, the rain getting heavier and heavier as they stacked dirt, before reaching the same level as the bridge. Jesse shot a web, grabbed Isa (who yelped in surprise) and swung themselves onto the bridge, next to Ivor's lava head.</p><p>Jesse let out a gasp. Great sections of the city were destroyed. Water poured off the edges. Ghasts (ohh how much Jesse hated ghasts) were floating around the city, as thunder boomed in the sky. The rain was REALLY pouring down now- so much that it actually made seeing a little different.</p><p>"We have to get over there, now!" Jesse shouted to Isa, who nodded back even as her dark black hair was glossy and flattened against her head from the rain, and the two of them charged down the bridge.</p><p>"Go go go! Don't stop!" Jesse yelled, as a ghast let out an angry cry and shot a fireball at them. "Look out!" Jesse added, dropping to all eights to scramble away from the fireball, as Isa ducked and they rushed to Sky City, the bridge now rather demolished behind them. "That was insane, you okay?" Jesse added, looking at Isa.</p><p>Isa let out a soft crying sound, her hands going to her face. "What have they done?" she whispered, frightened.</p><p>Jesse turned... and then wished she hadn't. Fire was consuming several areas of the city, zombies roaming, creepers running, citizens fleeing left and right for their lives...</p><p>Jesse turned as a guard was knocked down by a zombie, more zombies approaching.</p><p>"He needs our help!" Isa shouted, dark green eyes narrowing, and Jesse drew her sword in agreement, Isa yanking out two of her own swords as Jesse charged, lashing out with her sword and cutting through it, Isa jumping over Jesse's head and landing in the crowd of zombies with a flip, slicing through one, whipping around in a circle and cutting down another, turning back to the guards as Jesse finished off another one.</p><p>"What is going on here?" Isa asked, sharply.</p><p>The guard threw his hands up in the air. "The city is under attack by monsters, ma'am! Everywhere! They seem to be coming from inside the palace itself!"</p><p>Jesse's eyes narrowed as she spotted the Blaze Rods chucking spawn eggs into the city. "Aiden. C'mon, we need to stop him."</p><p>Isa shook her head, despair in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Jesse, but I have to save my people," she apologized.</p><p>Jesse nodded seriously, meeting Isa's eyes. "Take care of yourself out there, okay?" she asked, firmly.</p><p>"And to you as well," Isa said, worriedly.</p><p>Thunder smashed through the sky, as Jesse started out- and then she heard a shout. "Jesse, you're alive!" And she turned to see Milo waving a sword furiously. "Please, can you help us?"</p><p>"Hang tight, Milo!" Jesse agreed, before charging a bunch of skeletons and in two swift slashes brought them both down, exploding into smoke upon death.</p><p>Milo came out, holding his sword, as a spider jockey came towards them. Milo drew his sword and charged the skeleton, smashing his blade into them and knocking the creature to the floor, while the spider approached Jesse, more curiously than anything.</p><p>Jesse lowered the sword. "<em>Go and tell your friends to stop attacking, all right?</em>" she hissed to the spider, feeling the strange hum that her chest started to reverberate with whenever she spoke in Spider.</p><p>The spider nodded, before rapidly creeping away.</p><p>"Good to see you're quick on your feet," Milo said, rushing over to Jesse, his sword covered in skeleton dust, "but with all seriousness, how are you alive? I saw you go over the edge... both of you!"</p><p>"Quick version. You all thought how it's the big white void beneath you? Turns out there's land," Jesse said, deciding to cut right to the chase.</p><p>Milo's blue eyes, reminiscent of Lukas's, widened. "You speak truthfully, my friend? That... that is amazing."</p><p>A fireball soared over their heads, and Milo said, hurriedly, "I can't wait to hear all about it later."</p><p>"I have to get to the palace," Jesse told him, shaking some water out of her hair.</p><p>Milo nodded, his hand tightening on his sword. "Thank you, my friend. I will see you on the other side. That's a promise."</p><p>Jesse nodded, and veered back around the corner, charging towards the steps- before a rather large zombie spawned in front of Petra, who-</p><p>Jesse shook her head a little bit. Petra was standing in the center of her very own little firestorm. Her eyes glowed with heat, and a circle of flames surrounded her, burning through most of the monsters that were trying to get to her. Her sword was wreathed in flames, and her armor looked as though the whole thing glowed with a heat so intense Jesse could feel it from ten feet away.</p><p>The zombie stepped into the flames and burned right up.</p><p>"Jesse!" Petra yelled, having spotted her friend. "You're alive?"</p><p>Jesse dodged sideways as a ghast fired another fireball at her, before turning and seeing three at the same time.</p><p>Well slime blocks.</p><p>The three of them fired fireballs at the same time, and Jesse was plowed sideways by a tackle from Ivor, who knocked her several feet to the left, thereby saving her life. "I'm so glad you're all right," he practically shouted to be heard, staring at Jesse with shining eyes, before his face went serious, "Aiden has taken over the palace- he's holed up in the throne room tossing those damned spawn eggs everywhere! No one can get inside!"</p><p>"We have to stop him!" Jesse said, but Ivor's dark blue eyes had lit up. He reached into his pockets, nearly fumbling several of the glittering bottles as he held them out. "I know- Jesse, take one of these! I made all of them!"</p><p>Jesse's eyes lit up, and she looked through them, before looking up at Ivor. "Lemme try a Potion of Speed!"</p><p>"Here!" And Ivor chucked said potion to her, Jesse reaching out with her lower arms and catching the bottle, before swallowing it.</p><p>Ivor had been blinking, but his gaze suddenly slowed down. Jesse looked around her, as everything moved so slowly that she could've gone, crafted six swords, and come back, and everything would be in much the same position as it had been earlier.</p><p>Jesse walked through the fighting, the crowds, the sounds she could no longer hear, walked up the steps and past the Blaze Rods- she debated stopping them, but she really didn't have time, since Aiden was the main problem.</p><p>She came into the room to see Aiden sitting on the throne, Reginald (the main guard) and Aiden yelling at each other.</p><p>"This is between you and me, Aiden!" she shouted, "leave Reginald out of it!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0090"><h2>90. The Final Showdown (with Aiden)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I saw you fall!" Aiden shouted, staring at Jesse in shock, beginning to stand up. "You went down!"</p><p>"You're alive! Is the Founder with you? I heard-" Reginald started, Aiden standing up and drawing his arm back.</p><p>"Yes Isa is fine now <em>move-</em>" Jesse shot a web, but the creeper egg Aiden had been holding hit him and knocked him over, the web soaring right over him and hitting the creeper, which was right next to Reginald-</p><p>It blasted the guard back, making him hit the floor full force as Evie clucked as it went over to him.</p><p>Jesse started forward, but then stopped as she heard a loud, furious yell. "Not one more step!"</p><p>Jesse turned to look at Aiden, who was standing up, rage dancing through his eyes. "I killed you once, I can do it again!"</p><p>Jesse snorted. "Yeah, you snuck up behind me. Real brave of you, Aiden. The truth is," and her eyes turned blood red, "<em>I can easily take you down in a fair fight.</em>"</p><p>Aiden shook with rage, celery green eyes wide with fury. "Just DIE ALREADY!" he yelled, and thunder blasted the sky apart, lighting up the room sinisterly, as he hurled a gold egg that burst apart on impact. A Blaze rose out of it.</p><p>Jesse ducked under the Blaze's first fireball, blocking out Aiden's incredibly infuriating voice. And then another one.</p><p>And then Jesse leapt into the air, the Blaze turning too slowly, before lashing out with her sword, landing on the ground in a kneeling position. The Blaze keeled over and died on the spot (sorry, Petra).</p><p>A loud yell, and Jesse turned to see Aiden lunging towards her with his sword, raising it into the air, above his head. Jesse flicked the sword up into a block but was still knocked backwards by the impact. Jesse saw what Lukas meant- Aiden was much stronger than she'd remembered.</p><p>Aiden raised his sword above his head, Jesse lunging to the side, using her six arms to push herself back into a standing position, and holding out her sword defensively as Aiden turned to her. She'd never seen him so angry.</p><p>"This was supposed to be <em>my</em> world!" Aiden roared at her, "and you ruined it!"</p><p>Jesse shook her head, frowning at him. "Are you <em>listening</em> to yourself? That's insane!"</p><p>That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Aiden brought his sword down, and Jesse flicked it up, the two enchanted blades pressing together intensely as both owners refused to back down.</p><p>At least until Jesse gave an almighty shove, sending Aiden flying backwards into the base of the throne and his sword go clattering out of his hands.</p><p>Jesse slowly approached, until Aiden chucked another egg at her- she dodged. Another Blaze came out.</p><p>Jesse ducked under the fireball it sent at her, racing outside into the rain, where Aiden was standing on a narrow strip of land. The Blaze followed her, before sizzling, jerking- and then falling to it's death, exploding into dust and smoke.</p><p>Jesse tightened her grip on her sword, slowly, walking towards Aiden cautiously so that she was standing at the base of the narrow strip of land, crouching down a bit so that she was in a more defensive position, Aiden staring her down with a death glare, practically strangling the sword in his hand.</p><p>"You just <em>can't stand to see someone else</em> in the spotlight, <em>can </em>you?!" Aiden snarled, "You just can't let anyone else win! It just drives you <em>crazy</em> to see someone else succeed, doesn't it?!"</p><p>"Hark who's talking! You're the one who's jealous of me after a PTSD-inducing experience and tried to burn down my build at Endercon two months ago because you wanted us to lose!" Jesse pointed out. "And this is about winning or losing, it's about what's right!"</p><p>"And <em>that</em>," Aiden seethed, "is why <em>you're</em> gonna LOSE!"</p><p>Jesse just sighed a bit, as thunder exploded through the sky, a flash of light striking as it did.</p><p>Both of them readied their swords, eyes narrowing, before both charged at each other, towards the middle of the narrow strip of land. Jesse flicked her sword up to block his downwards hit, before out to block another, dodging back to avoid the clash of metal of his sword, and blocking another hit, shoving back a bit to force him to dance back a couple of steps.</p><p>Jesse slashed downwards, making Aiden step back, then flicked up, and then she swept out, knocking Aiden onto his back. He climbed back onto his feet, rage dancing in his face, before he struck upwards.</p><p>Jesse blocked again, but this time she started twisting the sword, moving it downwards, then upwards in an arc, and flicking out with all of her strength as she twisted the sword from his grip, the sword soaring in an arc through the air, skittering across the edge of the thing and then falling down.</p><p>That wasn't the only thing that fell- Aiden hit the ground roughly, bouncing once, upon which the flint and steel bounced out and rolled over to Jesse's feet, another time, and then, to Jesse's acute horror, <em>over the edge.</em></p><p>Aiden let out a horrified scream, grasping for the edge but missing-</p><p>He caught a handful of spider silk instead.</p><p>Swinging crazily, Aiden gaped up at Jesse, whose eyes were narrowed in determination as she heaved back, pulling, pulling, yanking with all of her might, before managing to slowly haul Aiden up so that he lay on his stomach on the narrow strip of land, gaping at her as she panted heavily, looking at him with an indecipherable expression, through her maelstrom of emotions, as she slowly scooped up the flint and steel and put it away.</p><p>"You did it," and Jesse turned to see Reginald gaping at her, holding the Eversource. "Jesse, we need to get out of here."</p><p>As if to confirm Reginald's words, the whole island shook with explosions.</p><p>Reginald glared at Aiden. "What do you want to do with him?"</p><p>Aiden let out a cry, getting onto his knees, holding his hands up in shaky surrender. "Please!" he cried out, "this place is getting worse by the minute. You can't just leave me here! Take me with you!"</p><p>"After everything you've done?" Reginald asked harshly, "I'm not sure you deserve that kind of mercy."</p><p>"No no no," Aiden begged, tears running down his face in terror, "come on, you can't just leave me behind! If you leave me here I'll die! I thought-" he nearly choked, tears running down his face, "I thought you were the good guys?"</p><p>Jesse stared at Aiden impassively for a moment, before she sighed, putting her hand to her face. "Get moving... you're coming with us." As Aiden started to get back up, hands still in the air, Jesse stepped over and slapped Aiden as hard as possible. "And <em>that</em> was for Lukas," she told Aiden, who was just staring at her gratefully. "Thank you," he said meekly. "Th-thank you, Jesse."</p><p>Reginald huffed. "More than you deserve, frankly."</p><p>And the three (four if you counted Evie) of them walked out of the palace.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0091"><h2>91. Aftermath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A good portion of the city had been destroyed, except for the canals of water, which were now all flowing into a big hole and off the island, down towards the land. Ghasts were still flying around like nobody's business.</p><p>Jesse stared at everything, slightly open-mouthed, before head snapping to her left at Petra's, "Jesse!"</p><p>She and Ivor were facing down Gill and Maya, both of whom had also surrendered. Aiden was still staring at Jesse with a slightly open mouth, looking as though he wanted to ask her something, but there was no time as a fireball nearly hit a small crowd of Sky City citizens, the ghast who'd spit it closing in-</p><p>Isa spun across in a huge leap, sweeping her swords in a wide arc, knocking the huge white ghast to the ground and making it explode into dust and smoke, before rushing over towards them. "You retrieved the Eversource!"</p><p>"Yes, ma'am," Reginald said, holding out Evie, who was clucking as if she didn't have a care in the world.</p><p>"Everyone," and Jesse looked over to see Milo leading a good portion of Build Club along towards the rest of the citizens, who were all shaking like leaves in the spot where they were all gathered.</p><p>"Jesse, there you are!" Milo shouted, looking relieved.</p><p>Isa almost talked over him, green eyes shining with worry. "Jesse, this situation is getting out of hand. We simply can't stop all the monsters AND protect my people. The longer we stay here, the more danger my people will be in!"</p><p>Jesse frowned, looking up at the ghasts momentarily, before down at the water rushing along inches from her feet. "The waterfalls, the waterfalls can take us to safety!" Jesse exclaimed, looking back up from the water at the crowd.</p><p>"What?!" cried one citizen, "are you crazy?! The waterfalls will just take us to the Void!"</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before saying, quietly, looking at Isa, "You're just going to have to trust me."</p><p>Isa nodded, looking at the citizens. "Yes, just- do what Jesse does."</p><p>Petra let the fire around her die down, her eyes no longer glowing red-hot and putting her sword away, as Jesse took a deep breath and jumped forward into the water.</p><p>The cool liquid surrounded her, and she began to swim forward, using her extra arms to propel her forward, before turning around. The other citizens were just sitting and rubbing their heads, Isa looking around at them desperately- before Milo stepped forward and spoke, loudly. "Jesse had done nothing but help us so far! I will show you just how much I believe in Jesse's word!"</p><p>And he hopped into the water too.</p><p>Isa followed shortly after, Reginald hopping in while still holding Evie. Petra shoved Maya in after Gill and jumped in herself, Ivor hopping into the water with a big grin on his face, Aiden hopping, more and more citizens following them as Ghasts soared overhead, and Jesse turned around.</p><p>Her stomach shot into her throat as the miniature river turned into a rather large waterfall, and she let out a yelp as the water sent her plummeting towards, even though she knew there was land. It was like one of those rides that go up and up and up, before suddenly shooting straight down. Jesse'd always liked those.</p><p>Jesse felt herself hit the water, going under for a moment, before stroking back up to the surface. Her hair had already gotten soaked from the rain, but now she was pretty sure that she wasn't going to need to go swimming for a long, long, LONG time after this.</p><p>Reginald gaped around him, eyes wide as the Eversource bobbed over to the side. "You weren't lying!" he exclaimed, "there's ground everywhere!"</p><p>The citizens were all pretty amazed too, gaping around them as if they'd just found the Holy Grail or something.</p><p>Isa looked gravely at Jesse. "Jesse, I cannot thank you enough. You have saved us all."</p><p>"So what do we do now?" Reginald asked, blinking at Jesse unsurely.</p><p>Jesse shrugged, spreading all six of her arms out wide with a big grin. "What do you do? Go have some fun! Night won't be here for <em>hours</em> at least- you were cooped up in there for so long that you should be allowed to do whatever you want! For a while, at least. Then you might wanna worry about making shelter." And she let out a little laugh at that.</p><p>Another loud splash, and Jesse looked over to see the Blaze Rods swimming over to the side as well, all of them looking quite worse for wear.</p><p>"Freeze, criminals!" shouted some guards, making Aiden stare up fearfully, "you're not going ANYWHERE."</p><p>Petra and Ivor, also soaking, came over to Jesse, water pouring off their clothes (and, in Petra's case, steam). Milo looked at Jesse as well, but before anyone could say anything Jesse was tackled by a rather large blonde fluffball. "I knew you'd do it!"</p><p>Jesse couldn't say anything for a second, winded by the flying hug, but grinned cheekily at Lukas, who was hugging her around the midriff rather tightly. "For someone who knew I could do it, you're awfully happy to see me."</p><p>Lukas grinned back, before seeing Petra and Ivor and pouncing on them, too, squashing the both of them together. Petra gave Ivor a look, but Ivor looked faintly amused. "You're worse than Soren," he joked slightly, "he used to have the most surprising flying tackles of the rest of us combined."</p><p>"I'm just speculating here," Petra said, once she'd tolerated the hug and gotten back up, "but I'm guessing those three are having some regrets."</p><p>Jesse grimaced slightly. "Man, I bet those guys are in some deep trouble. The Sky City citizens are NOT happy with them."</p><p>Lukas smiled a bit evilly, tail twitching and ears twisting around excitedly. "Yeah, hopefully they dig a deep hole, bury them in it, surround it with lava and-"</p><p>He cut himself off at the sight of Isa, Reginald, Milo, and Petra gaping at the blonde ocelot hybrid. Ivor was grinning evilly as well, and Jesse was shaking her head with a small, amused, yet sad smile on her face. Obviously Lukas was taking the Blaze Rods' betrayal rather deeply.</p><p>Lukas grinned sheepishly, ears flattening against his head. "Sorry. Got a bit carried away there."</p><p>The guards were marching the Blaze Rods across the grass, and Aiden glanced up at Jesse, before back down.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms- all of them- with an impassive look on her face. "Aiden."</p><p>Aiden was stopped, and the boy looked at the floor, his voice a couple octaves higher than usual. "Oh. Uh, hi, Jesse, I'm..." He hesitated, before saying, "thank you... for saving me up there. When I was... falling. But... uh... b-but why..." he started to ask before deciding not to. "And I'm... I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry to cause all of that trouble. I can see where it all went wrong. I've... uh... got some regrets, to say the least."</p><p>Jesse frowned at him slightly. "I hope you learned a lesson, Aiden." Her frown softened. "This really didn't have to go down like this."</p><p>"I'd... say you have a lot to think about," Lukas said, a bit coldly.</p><p>Aiden winced under his former friend's cold gaze. "Yeah, yeah, that's... that's for sure."</p><p>"Try to do something good for these guys, okay?" Jesse asked, and her gaze softened a bit at the sight of her former enemy looking as though he were a kicked puppy. "Maybe, once you've... you know, served some time for what you've done, maybe I- the Founder," she corrected herself, "will let you have a new start."</p><p>"Yeah," said Aiden, and he blinked thoughtfully. "Maybe I could become a writer." And then he looked at Jesse. "I won't try to compete with you anymore, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse just shrugged at that, and Aiden was led away.</p><p>Isa cleared her throat, stepping up onto a bit of raised land. "Hello? Everyone, please? This is your Founder speaking," she spoke, raising her voice, "now that we're all safe, we need to organize. Start planning our new community," she spoke, the citizens of Sky City gathering around her.</p><p>Milo shoved his way to the raised bit of ground as well, glaring at the Founder. "Are you listening to yourself? That's insane! We were prisoners long enough on that island in the sky! It's time for us to run free! Build whatever we please!" he exclaimed, loudly.</p><p>Petra made a little worried face. "Oh, those two just <em>cannot</em> get along."</p><p>"They're talking about two whole different... well, <em>philosophies</em>, almost," Jesse whispered back.</p><p>Isa glared at Jesse, who happened to have a front row seat for the whole thing. "Jesse, I cannot allow my people to be influenced by this... naive idealist!" she said sharply.</p><p>"Bah!" Milo growled back, "I'm sure I DO look like a naive idealist through the eyes of an oppressive dictator!"</p><p>Jesse put her lower arms on her hips and crossed the middle and upper sets. "Both of you, quit it! Fighting isn't going to solve anything!" she reprimanded, sharply.</p><p>"It will if I win!" Milo retorted.</p><p>"Oh, of course you'd think that way!" Isa snapped back, before scoffing. "You don't understand, it'll be night soon, and that is when the monsters come out! If we don't prepare, we'll be in danger!"</p><p>"You're just making excuses to control our behavior, just like before!" Milo rebuked the statement over the gasps of the crowd, "we must trust in ourselves! Be able to learn from our mistakes!"</p><p>"Of course the people can <em>build</em>," Isa argued back, "but we need a system! Some rules! Rules aren't bad!"</p><p>"Well, I think you're both right," Jesse stated calmly, eyeing both of them before looking at the crowd, "you don't just wanna run around with no plan like a bunch of headless chickens, but you can't schedule and organize everything, either. People do need to be free to try new things, but you gotta be safe about it."</p><p>People started cheering at that, and Milo said, a bit grudgingly, "I suppose I still have much to learn... thank you, Jesse."</p><p>Isa's brow furrowed a bit. "I don't understand yet, but... I trust you," she said simply. "I suppose the era of Sky City is over."</p><p>"We may disagree how to run this place," Milo agreed, both of them hopping down from the blocks of land, "but I thank you for everything you have done."</p><p>Isa smiled wryly. "I guarantee that we'll be telling stories about your visit for many, many years to come."</p><p>Jesse eyed Isa with a small smile. "Try and play nice with Milo, okay? I know he's a bit crazy, and you aren't always gonna get along, but he really DOES care about the people. Don't waste this chance."</p><p>"Yes, I am starting to see that," Isa chuckled softly, looking at Milo with her dark green eyes, "and I will do my best." And the two of them walked off to go discuss something, Lukas watching Isa for a moment before letting out a little laugh, tail flicking around. "You know something? She was a bit scary at first. But... she's alright."</p><p>"I'm gonna miss that crazy guy," Petra said, wistfully, before- "I guess we should prepare for nightfall, too. Without another portal, we're stuck here."</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened, and she let out a nervous laugh. "Oh... whoops, I guess with all the fighting and monsters and stuff I kinda forgot to mention... when we were on the ground with the Founder before we totally found the portal!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0092"><h2>92. The End of Sky City</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"And you didn't say anything?!" Ivor exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.</p><p>Petra arched her eyebrows, gold eyes wide. "Yeah, I'm actually going to have to agree with Ivor on this one!" she responded, crossing her arms and pouting playfully at her spider hybrid friend.</p><p>Lukas frowned, tail twitching slightly and gently. "Did I not mention it either? 'Caaauuuse I could've sworn I said something," he mumbled, batting at his ears thoughtfully.</p><p>"And we were trying not to die via Ghast and other terrible googlies up in Sky City, when would I have had any time to say anything about finding the portal?" Jesse pointed out, smirking slightly, before the smirk turned into more of a genuine smile. "Come on!"</p><p>And all four of them bolted towards the portal, before Jesse put on the brakes as the Eversource tripped and landed flat on its face with a squawk.</p><p>Judging by the sounds behind her, Petra had collided full force with Ivor and Ivor had tripped into Lukas, knocking all three of them flat on their faces behind Jesse. She glanced over her shoulder, letting out a sheepish little laugh as she saw her three friends sprawled into a big pile on the floor.</p><p>Turning back to the front, she saw that the Eversource had also gotten back up from it's little fall. "Oh! Hello," Jesse said, to the chicken she'd nearly squashed by accident.</p><p>"Ah!" And Isa trotted over towards her chicken in relief, and suddenly the nicely done makeup didn't enhance her features, it softened them. "There you are!" And she looked up at Jesse with an apologetic smile. "So sorry about her," she apologized.</p><p>"That's okay, looks like she's having fun running around," Jesse said, looking down at 'Evie', who was fluttering her wings and clucking cheerfully.</p><p>Isa smiled a bit as Evie started pecking at the ground. "Yes, I think she took it pretty well when I told her she didn't have to be the Eversource anymore." Isa crouched, smiling down at the Eversource with a smile Jesse had seen before, though she couldn't quite place where. "What are we gonna do with you now? Huh?" she asked the chicken in a soft coo. "What are you gonna do now? Besides continue to be adorable of course... but that was a given."</p><p>Jesse tilted her head curiously, scratching her head. "Yeah, what ARE you going to do now?"</p><p>Isa hesitated, looking down at Evie for a moment with that smile on her face. "After so long being 'the Founder' and 'the Eversource', now we can just be Isa and her best friend..." and Isa leaned down to take off the tiny crown, "Benedict."</p><p>Ivor scoffed. "That's a boy's name!"</p><p>Jesse chuckled, scratching her head. "Ah. I actually called her 'Evie'. 'Cause, you know. Eversource..." Even as she got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she realized that smile that Isa was giving Benedict was the smile she'd used to give Reuben.</p><p>Isa hummed thoughtfully, choosing to ignore Ivor's comment, holding the crowd in her palm. "Hm, Evie. Not bad." And then she extended the crown carefully, her green eyes crinkling up warmly. "Jesse? I would be honored if you would take this. As a small token of our gratitude." And the small ring of gold was set in her palm.</p><p>Jesse smiled, putting the crown carefully into her pocket. "Thank you," she said gratefully.</p><p>"Come on, Benedict," Isa said cheerfully, "we have a lot of adventures ahead of us."</p><p>Ivor made a comment about the Eversource, but Jesse didn't notice and suddenly she couldn't hear anything. She'd spotted some little pink pigs digging around in the dirt, walking around and snorting cutely. Something formed in her throat, and she couldn't say anything for a couple of moments, just watching them with blank green and red eyes.</p><p>She nearly jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Jesse? You okay?" Lukas asked, concerned, as he came up to his black-haired friend.</p><p>Jesse sighed a bit, still staring blankly at the pigs, not trusting herself to look around at Lukas without crying or tearing up. "Y-yeah, I just- I just saw those pigs, and... y-y'know."</p><p>"Oh... yes," Ivor said, going awkwardly quiet at the sight of his pupil just staring blankly at the little pink pigs snuffling around in the dirt.</p><p>Petra reached out and squeezed Jesse's other shoulder, the one that Lukas's hand wasn't resting on. "He would be <em>really</em> happy to know you're still having adventures like this," Petra said, softly.</p><p>Jesse nodded with a small swallow, and a small smile at them. Before she took a deep breath, and they all continued until they reached the edge of the hole, and she pointed. "See? Just like I told you. One portal back home."</p><p>And they all hopped down into the hole, Jesse pulling out the flint and steel carefully. "Okay, guys, let's go home," she said, kneeling down next to the portal opening for safety, and then clicking the flint and steel together.</p><p>There was another shockwave from the hot spark the flint and steel spat out, but Jesse was at a safer position, and so did not just go flying backwards this time.</p><p>She turned to look over her shoulder, to see all of them grinning at the blue, swirling mixtures in the doorway, before walking forward, Jesse starting to speak as she walked through the swirling blues. "Wait'll Axel and Olivia hear where we've been, they'll never believe-"</p><p>Jesse cut herself off as she stepped forward through the portal, the 'bead curtain' sensation fading away, stopping fully. "... that's... not what I was expecting," she said finally as Ivor and Petra stepped into the hallway as well.</p><p>Because, stretching for a mile at least, was a long hallway.</p><p>And it was lined with portals.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0093"><h2>93. Hallway</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They decided to bed down for the day... night... whatever it was in the hallway. After fighting off mobs, falling from the sky, and arresting Aiden, they really needed a break.</p><p>Jesse was duly impressed- Petra had made a small fire just by putting some blaze rods in a little pile and snapping her fingers. Being friends with a Blaze hybrid certainly made camping much easier.</p><p>Not that they needed it- Petra made a nice heater without the fire. And the hallway was plenty lit up with all the portals.</p><p>Lukas was asleep already. Probably it didn't help that Jesse had started petting him after Petra had made the fire, making the ocelot hybrid curl up against Jesse's leg while sleeping. She was still petting him with her lower arms, liking the feel of his soft hair under her hands. He was purring like a carburetor, tail and ears twitching happily.</p><p>Ivor shook his head from where he was sitting and trying to make some new potions, hands busy with the ingredients. "Honestly, he never fell asleep when anyone else was petting him. What makes you so different?" he joked, before dropping one of the empty potion bottles he was juggling.</p><p>Jesse stuck her tongue out playfully at her mentor. "What? Jealous?" she teased, her middle arms catching the bottle and handing it back to him as she went on petting Lukas.</p><p>Petra was eating some bread that she had toasted over the small fire. I say toasted, I mean burned to a crisp. Petra loved burned food more than anyone Jesse knew. It was odd how Petra could toast an apple- an <em>apple-</em> and eat it as happily as if it were a piece of burned toast. Jesse never understood Petra's eating habits.</p><p>Petra noticed Jesse looking, and held it out, still eating. "Want one?"</p><p>Jesse chuckled, lower arms petting Lukas as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of toast she'd saved from that morning, upper arms combing through her hair. It was still damp. "Nah, I'm good."</p><p>"Suit yourself."</p><p>Ivor pulled out a bottle of something dark blue, and Petra arched her eyebrow. "Potion of Night Vision?" she asked.</p><p>"No, energy drink." Ivor took a sip and went back to brewing his potions. He glanced up from his potion, as he carefully added glistering melon to the liquid already in the potion bottle. "You know, you liked being petted, too," he said, and it took Jesse a couple of seconds to realize he was looking at her.</p><p>"Oh. Yeah. I mean, I remembered a while ago, but... you know, no one ever petted me except for you," Jesse said, shrugging casually.</p><p>Petra put away her burned bread, gold eyes sparkling with excitement. "Ooh, Jesse likes being petted? Lemme try!" and the Blaze hybrid practically ran over to where Jesse was sitting.</p><p>Ivor smirked in amusement.</p><p>Jesse looked at Petra with bemused eyes as Petra plopped down next to her and started patting her back lightly. The bemusement slowly turned to a dreamy sort of look. "Oh, that feels..." a soft purr as her lower arms continued stroking Lukas's hair instinctively. Jesse was getting very good at multitasking. "... that feels nice," she said, dreamily.</p><p>Petra grinned at Ivor, the first smile she'd sent his way in a long time. "Heh, you weren't kidding, Ivor."</p><p>Jesse was starting to purr a little bit now, but it was the spider version of a purr- meaning her chest vibrated slightly as a soft humming came out of her mouth. It was kind of soothing. Like a lullaby, actually. A bizarre,</p><p>Ivor took his eyes from the sight of the three hybrids sitting together in a little clump and went back to brewing potions of healing, potions of fire resistance (the hybrids went through so many of these in one day just because of Petra's tendency to get overexcited), potions of Swiftness...</p><p>It was only when he heard nothing for a good long time, except for some soft humming, that he lifted his eyes from the brewing stand.</p><p>Jesse had slumped over Lukas sleepily, her lower arms resting on his back nicely as she rested her head on his back, upper arms draped over her sides. Petra was lying on the ground a little behind her, hand also resting on Jesse's back as she breathed in and out. The fire had also dimmed a bit, to the point where they were just embers that glowed in sync with Petra's even breathing. Ivor hadn't noticed because of the portals giving off light.</p><p>He shook his head, dark blue eyes softening. If Jesse had seen, she would've teased him, and if Petra had seen him, she would've cracked some joke, gold eyes still a bit hard when she looked at him, or if Lukas had spotted that, he would've just patted the older male nicely on the back, a small smirk twitching on his lips that was barely noticeable but still there.</p><p>Good thing they were asleep, right?</p><p>Ivor moved more quietly, making sure not to clink the bottles together as he put them away, eyes flicking up to the small pile of hybrids in front of him every couple of minutes to check if he'd woken one up.</p><p>Finally, the brewing station that he'd made was cleaned up, and he approached the hybrids, carefully moving some hair out of Jesse's face with a small smile.</p><p>Jesse stirred a bit, hands twitching, before a small smile came over her face. He smiled slightly with a shake of the head, leaned against the wall near their heads, and closed his eyes.</p><p>Not too long later, he drifted off as well.</p><hr/><p>'Morning' came. After a quick breakfast of rather burned bread (courtesy of Petra), the four of them were poking through the hallway, hazarding guesses as to which portal lead back home.</p><p>"Hmm, what about this one?" Ivor called out.</p><p>Jesse trotted over to look at the one Ivor was pointing out. Olive green swirled inside a doorway made of two rings of gold.</p><p>Jesse looked at Petra to see what she thought about the whole thing. Petra squinted. "Mmm, maybe... what do you think, Lukas?"</p><p>Lukas's nose twitched, and he put his hands on his hips, looking a little disconcerted. "I can't smell anything. If it's a Nether portal, it smells like... burning. Fire, wood smoke... and if it's an End portal I can smell this sickly sweet smell. But I can't smell anything with these portals, except I think I'm catching a faint whiff here and there. It seems like night air. Maybe some rotten flesh. Nothing out of the ordinary."</p><p>"Good enough for me," Jesse shrugged, and she took a deep breath before pushing her way into the portal, the 'beads' moving aside to let her inside.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0094"><h2>94. Graveyard Googlies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse yelped as something hit her face on the way down, before her entire body collided full-force onto cold dirt.</p><p>Well, ow.</p><p>There was more yelling, and the others fell too.</p><p>Jesse clambered to her feet, batting away the bat which had gotten plastered to her face. Thankfully it flew away with not much damage done to it... Jesse didn't think, anyway.</p><p>Mist curled around them, clouding some of the ground away from sight. There were trees with vines draped on them, and they appeared to be in some sort of bizarre... graveyard.</p><p>"Uh, okay guys," Jesse said, a bit shakily, every instinct in her body screaming at her that there was something wrong, "I'm seeing grass, forests, ground in all directions... pretty good signs so far..."</p><p>Ivor tapped on her shoulder, making her look at her mentor- who seemed even paler than usual, if that was possible.</p><p>Her red and green eyes followed his pointing finger, and she let out a sigh at the sight of the twin moons glowing in the dark sky. "Aha," she sighed, quietly. Well, at least she could brush off the uncomfortable fact that her instincts were wrong...</p><p>"Verdict says?" Petra asked, arching her eyebrow, "<em>definitely</em> not our world." And she elbowed the ocelot hybrid. "You owe me two iron, Lukas."</p><p>Lukas rolled his eyes with a grin, tossing her the two iron bars. "There ya go, Petra, your two iron."</p><p>Jesse shook her head with an amused smile playing on her lips. "You two bet on the outcome?" she asked, amused. She must've missed it this... uh, 'morning', in the portal hallway.</p><p>"We were bored," Lukas said with a shrug.</p><p>"Well, I'm sure you guys can hear it," Jesse said, a playful smile beginning to come over her face.</p><p>Petra tilted her head, scratching her head a bit with her free hand. "Uhh, spooky forest?"</p><p>Jesse stifled a laugh. "No... well, yes, that too. But no, that's not what I was talking about. It's the sound of a new adventure. I bet this place is going to be pretty exciting."</p><p>"I hope you're right," Lukas said, his face going a bit more sober than usual. "It's just... I'm worried about Axel and Olivia."</p><p>Petra's gold eyes blinked almost owlishly. "What? Why?"</p><p>"Well, if they followed us back to that Old Builder temple, and went through the portal-"</p><p>"Oh..." and Jesse winced as she realized what her ocelot friend was getting at. "They'd arrive in Sky City to find it overflowing with monsters. Hm, well, they basically ARE monsters themselves, half anyway. And they don't have to worry about all the citizens like we did, so... I feel like they'd be fine. I'm not sure they would follow us anyway. I left them a note, but..."</p><p>"Your handwriting isn't exactly what one would call beautiful," Petra finished sardonically.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks," she joked back, and Lukas chuckled a little too. "I see your point. Besides, I'm sure they can handle themselves. They'll probably find the next portal, just like we did-"</p><p>"And hopefully, we'll all be back together again soon," Jesse finished.</p><p>"We can hope," Petra nodded agreeably enough.</p><p>"I for one vote that we not be so hasty to try and get out of here," Ivor said, raising his hand like a schoolboy. "Who knows what sorts of treasures this new world could hold?" And then he sighed, kneading his temples. "Besides, unless the next portal is... disguised as a tombstone... I'm not seeing anything like it anywhere near here."</p><p>Jesse let out a sigh of agreement, looking around, before spotting something on a big white pedestal nearby. She squinted at it, focusing her gaze on it for a moment while trying not to lose it in the mist. After a whole minute, she was fairly sure it was actually there. "You guys seeing some... sort of... thing, over there?" she asked, trying to train her eyes on it.</p><p>Petra's brow furrowed, gold eyes glowing faintly. "Yeah... what is that?" she wondered.</p><p>They all moved forward, cautiously, before the shape came into view, revealing itself to be a book floating on what seemed to be some sort of large pedestal, though it could've been a tomb.</p><p>Jesse reached out and took it off the pedestal, carefully opening the book. "It says, 'invitation,'" she read off the book. So far so good.</p><p>"And then... 'read immediately, your life depends on it!'" Annnd things took a <em>bit</em> of a downward turn here. Just a bit. She cleared her throat again, before reading the next part. "'Greetings, traveller-'" And she was cut off by the telltale moans of zombies.</p><p>Lukas let out a rather annoyed sigh, tail twitching. "Yep, that seems about right."</p><p>Petra whipped out her sword, flicking it out at a zombie and knocking it down. "Keep reading, Jesse! We've got your back!" Jesse's lower arm pulled out the sword and held it at the ready, Jesse's attention focused more on the book, now. "'I humbly invite you to my mansion for an evening of food and festivity with your fellow adventurers!'" she read, quickly, jumping up backwards onto the pedestal and swiping with her sword, slicing off a zombie's head.</p><p>"That's odd," Lukas grunted, flailing out with his claws and raking through a zombie's guts. Jesse resisted the urge to make a face at that. "Yeah, weird, right- <em>whoa!</em>" She flailed out with her sword again, slicing right through a zombie.</p><p>"Toss it here!" Petra called, her area momentarily clear of zombies.</p><p>Jesse shut the small book and tossed it underhand towards her friend, the book sailing in a lazy arc towards the redhead, who caught it and swiped through another zombie.</p><p>Ivor was hopping up onto a stone spot, throwing potions of harm everywhere and trying not to hit the hybrids in the face with them. "Petra, anytime now! You can read, right?" he barked.</p><p>"Hang on, hang on," Petra snapped back, eyes scanning the pages so intently Jesse was a bit surprised the book wasn't in flames by now as she stabbed her sword into another zombie, "need to find Jesse's place... got it!"</p><p>Jesse lunged forward, Petra leaning down as Jesse flicked her sword into a zombie's face, bowling it over. "'Come to my home on the hill, just follow the path. Please look out for zombies-'" Petra flicked her blade into another zombie, Jesse darting to the side, "'sincerely, the Host.'"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0095"><h2>95. Spider-Jesse, Spider-Jesse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lukas scoffed a bit. "Good warning."</p><p>"The path's right over there!" Jesse shouted, and they bolted for the gravel path, racing along it at top speeds, Petra soaring so fast that she was practically leaving flames from where she was hovering, Lukas racing along the path at the highest speed his ocelot-human limbs would allow, and Jesse had pretty much thrown Ivor onto her back and was sprinting along the bath.</p><p>"I must say," Ivor said, his hands clamped tight on Jesse's hair (hopefully he wouldn't yank it), "this is the highest concentration of zombies I've ever seen in one place!"</p><p>He wasn't kidding. Behind them and to their sides were so many zombies that to run away other than the path they were already on would mean almost certain death, or at least a crap ton of fighting.</p><p>"You think this 'Host' is gonna be legit, Jesse?" Lukas puffed to her. "I just ask, because this place hasn't exactly been friendly so far."</p><p>"I'm kinda suspicious too, Lukas- this place kinda has 'trap' written all over it," Jesse responded through puffs and pants, "but we don't exactly have another option. It's the only thing we have to go on right now," and she looked up to see a huge mansion looming through the fog. Unfortunately, blocking their path to said mansion was a horde of zombies.</p><p>"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that's the place we're looking for," Ivor said drily, as Jesse screeched to a halt, scattering gravel pieces everywhere.</p><p>"Race ya guys there," Petra said, in a bit of a singsong voice.</p><p>Jesse grinned playfully at her Blaze hybrid friend. "Hope you're hungry, Petra."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"You're about to eat my dust!"</p><p>Petra smirked and rolled her gold orbs. "I set myself up for that one, didn't I."</p><p>"Yes. Yes you did."</p><p>And with that they were off.</p><p>Lukas and Petra leaped up onto higher ground, but Jesse didn't want to follow. For one, if she did, Ivor was going to yank her hair out by the roots to keep himself from falling off, even though once a person/skeleton is on a spider, it really won't do anything except just sit there, even if they're parallel to the floor. Jesse should know. She'd done it a couple times with Olivia in case Olivia fell off. How the rider managed to defy the laws of physics was probably something they'd never know.</p><p>Jesse bolted along, the sound of a sword being drawn hitting her ears, and a zombie that had started to rise from the ground in front of her- <em>thwack!</em> It fell to the side, puffing into smoke.</p><p>Jesse was running so fast that she didn't see the break in the ground until it was too late- and with an almighty gasp and splash, the two of them fell in, Ivor kicking to stay afloat and therefore smacking Jesse in the back of the head by accident, dazing the spider hybrid- and when she stroked furiously to the surface a moment later, they were drifting through water that was filled with zombies dumbly walking into the river to get them. Jesse had to kick and flail to keep clear of them.</p><p>One spider stared at Jesse and cocked its head as she floated towards it, but otherwise did nothing as Jesse floated past it.</p><p>"You hear that, right?" Ivor asked, paddling over to Jesse, "almost sounds like a..."</p><p>"Waterfall," Jesse finished with a groan. She started paddling off to the side, just as a zombie swam in the way. Jesse furiously kicked to get it away, which stopped her sideways momentum and sent her pitching over the side of the waterfall-</p><p>Her lower arms grabbed a vine that was hanging off the side, and then managed to catch Ivor by the wrist as he went over a second later.</p><p>"Get on my back!" Jesse yelled, there was no time- already the vine that she'd caught was starting to break.</p><p>Perhaps Ivor heard the urgency in her tone, because he didn't question it or ask about it- just climbed into a sitting position on her back, and Jesse felt him almost 'lock' into place. The moment he did so, all eight of her limbs fastened to the wall, and she jumped over to some vines on a wall next to her, Ivor clinging tightly to her hair again, before crawling back up and racing for the mansion.</p><p>Some skeletons started shooting at them, but the zombies that were falling into the little 'valley' that they were in were the ones getting hit by the arrows, since Ivor crouched to avoid them and Jesse was dodging like there was no tomorrow. At one point she nearly did a faceplant before scurrying along.</p><p>"Well, I did need to get some exercise," Jesse huffed, as Petra kicked through the monsters on the 'bridge', knocking them down into the valley.</p><p>Jesse sprang into the air, over a zombie's head, did a turning flip- she was dimly aware that Ivor was screaming, but at the moment, she was concentrating on the very important task of not dying- whipped out her sword, slashed it through three zombies, resheathed it, and landed running.</p><p>
  <em>Awesome.</em>
</p><p>The two of them skidded to a wall. Not quite so awesome, but nothing Jesse could handle. "Don't yank my hair, D-Ivor," she corrected herself, feeling cheeks turn rather pink at the thought of what she nearly just called Ivor, before running straight up the wall, legs grabbing at tiny hand-and-footholds in the dirt that no normal human being could've held.</p><p>She skidded to a stop in front of an elaborate gate, sending gravel flying, just as Petra landed a couple seconds late. Lukas puffed up to them as Ivor unlocked his legs and clambered back off. "Nailed it!" Jesse cheered.</p><p>"Okay, okay," Petra conceded, "you won that one, Jesse. THAT one."</p><p>Getting back to her own two feet, Jesse gave them a grin and lead them towards the mansion.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0096"><h2>96. Dogs and Sparkles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The four of them crept over to a sort of stack of stone blocks, peeking over it. "That front door is a no-go," Petra said, flatly.</p><p>Unfortunately, she'd been poking her head too high over it, and there was also the fact that besides Jesse and maybe Ivor, none of their outfits were made for stealth. The zombies turned to face them, making sickening gurgling sounds.</p><p>"I don't think you really need me to say this," Jesse drawled, "but <em>run</em>."</p><p>They all tore off again, Jesse throwing Ivor back onto her back and dropping to all eights, as Petra shot fireballs to keep the zombies at bay and Lukas bolted after her, ears flattened against his head and tail flapping in the wind.</p><p>Jesse was running at full tilt, racing across the ground, before she saw something glowing in one of the darkened windows of the mansion, and looked up, momentarily distracted.</p><p>A pair of yellow eyes narrowed at her, staring at her silently, from behind the eyeholes of a white pumpkin head before turning and walking away, out of sight of the window, which was rather high up.</p><p>"The-?" Jesse blurted, eyes widening slightly.</p><p>"What? What'd you see?" Petra called out from where she was flying across the ground, flying so that she was hovering in front of Jesse.</p><p>Jesse's brow crinkled. "Dunno. Some... creepy person... in the window." She hesitated, before adding, "they had a white pumpkin for a head."</p><p>"White pumpkin?" Ivor asked, looking down at Jesse curiously, "there's no such thing."</p><p>"Let's save the agricultural discussions for inside, huh?" Lukas huffed back.</p><p>Jesse almost tripped and fell flat on her face at that.</p><p>She didn't even pause as they came to a large series of glass windows. "Guys, get up to one of the windows!" she shouted. Easy for her, Petra, and Ivor- Jesse just scrambled straight up the wall, and Petra flew up. Ivor, of course, was riding Jesse, and got off quickly once they were safely on a ledge.</p><p>Lukas muttered something rather uncomplimentary about 'wish I could fly' or something along those lines, before bolting up a tree.</p><p>He popped his head through the branches, stray leaves stuck in his fluffy blonde hair and his tail twitching rather irritably.</p><p>Jesse shot a web at the tree branches, and Lukas grabbed on before Jesse forcibly retracted it. This caused the rather sticky string to snap several branches as it whipped back to her, Lukas flying through the air, colliding with Jesse, and both of them slamming forcibly against the glass, causing it to shatter and topple the both of them through.</p><p>Petra and Ivor winced.</p><p>"Ow," Jesse said flatly from where she was flattened on the floor, flat on her back. Lukas was lying on top of her, face centimeters from hers. "Oww... sorry, Jesse," and he grimaced as he dusted leaves out of his hair.</p><p>"I'm just glad I'm more durable than an actual spider," Jesse said, waving it off and climbing back up to her feet painfully as Lukas climbed off, batting at his hair and ears with his hands. "<em>Ow</em>."</p><p>"You guys okay?" Petra asked, hovering down while Ivor jumped down using a series of furnaces, careful not to stand on it for too long. Jesse grimaced and rubbed her back using her middle arms. "Well, I think my back's going to be one massive bruise come tomorrow, but sure, I think I'm fine." She then looked around the warmly lit room, noting the creeper painting with a raised eyebrow and the food storage units. "Looks like this is some sort of kitchen," she hummed thoughtfully.</p><p>Muffled voices came through the door, making all four of them jump a bit. Something about... a dog... and sparkles?</p><p>"I think we could avoid a lot of unpleasantness if- AUGH!"</p><p>"What the-!"</p><p>A man with darker skin, black hair, and red sunglasses had jumped back rapidly at the sight of them, the other being a guy with sunglasses and brown hair wearing a tealish tank top.</p><p>Jesse suddenly realized, that all of them were still in 'hybrid mode', as she'd taken to calling it (except for Ivor, but still). Lukas's ears and tail were pretty obvious, Petra had Blaze Rods hovering around her and her gold eyes were glowing, and of course Jesse had her red eye and four extra arms.</p><p>"Uh... hi," Jesse said, sheepishly. One of her lower arms waved a bit.</p><p>The guy with red sunglasses cowered back even more at that, flinching a bit. "Y-you're... you-you're monsters?"</p><p>Lukas crossed his arms playfully. "Hey, I'm half Ocelot, not half monster. Get it right," he joked slightly, although there was a note of concern in his eye. "You okay?"</p><p>The guy wearing teal scowled at them, unsurely. He didn't seem like he really wanted to say anything.</p><p>"Uh... okay, maybe... maybe we should introduce ourselves? I'm... uh, I'm CaptainSparklez," the guy with red sunglasses said nervously.</p><p>Oh. That explained the bit Jesse had heard about sparkles. Sparklez smiled weakly-nervously- before gesturing weakly at the male next to him, rubbing his head. "That's, uh... that's TorqueDawg."</p><p>Jesse nodded slightly, lower arms twitching agitatedly. "Um... hi?" she asked, sheepishly, lower arms going to rub her back again. It really did ache from her little fall.</p><p>"Are you going to hurt us?" Sparklez asked, in a quieter voice.</p><p>Jesse put up all six hands in hasty surrender. "Uh, haha, <em>no</em>. We're not out to hurt anyone." Lower arms reached into her pocket to pull out the book. "We, um, got invited by someone called the Host, and, well, not sure if you've noticed," Jesse jerked her head at the window, "there are a crap ton of monsters out there."</p><p>"But... you guys are half monster. Wouldn't it..."</p><p>"Just confuse the monsters, since we're HALF. Zombies don't seem to care either way, they sense that we're humans and have brains, they want it. Spiders, Blazes, creepers... they tend to be more hesitant to attack. Every other mob can have at us," Jesse responded, promptly.</p><p>"Ah." Sparklez rubbed his head, awkwardly. "Darn."</p><p>And then he rubbed his head again. "Sorry for the language."</p><p>"Jesse uses much worse, don't worry."</p><p>Jesse swatted at Lukas with a playful scowl, Sparklez smiling weakly at the childish display. "That wasn't about you getting an invitation... just that I was hoping that you could explain things."</p><p>Jesse put the invitation back into her pocket with a polite nod, before putting her lower arms behind her back. "Okay. Umm... this might be a little late, but, I'm Jesse. The ocelot hybrid here is Lukas, the Blaze hybrid is Petra, and he-" she pointed at Ivor, "is Ivor."</p><p>"'Jesse'?" TorqueDawg scoffed, "that's a boy's name."</p><p>Jesse opened her mouth to protest, before pausing as a flash of the boy which chocolate brown hair and bright green eyes and gray ears and tail popped into her head and then going, "Well, actually, it's a unisex name. It could go either way. So... can't really deny that."</p><p>TorqueDawg squinted at her, before asking, gruffly, "What are you guys, anyway? Some sort of Loser patrol?"</p><p>"Can I set this guy on fire, Jesse?" Petra asked casually, the flames from the furnaces seeming to get even hotter.</p><p>Jesse laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "I, uh... I do hope you're joking there, Petra."</p><p>"Sure."</p><p>Jesse turned back to TorqueDawg with a sheepish smile. "Um... well, no, we're not... not a loser patrol, since we're hybrids... and I'm actually fairly certain all four of us can do some rather lethal things, from what I remember," and Jesse squinted her eyes shut thoughtfully. "Hmmm."</p><p>There was a rather awkward silence at that, before Sparklez said, in a rather nervous voice, "Well, that sea of zombie has us all trapped, so maybe you could hold off on trying out your lethal things on us until later?"</p><p>Jesse chuckled weakly at that. "Aha, sure." And then she registered what he'd just said. "Oh, wait, how many more people are in this place?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0097"><h2>97. Tipped Arrows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Counting us... seven?" Sparklez estimated, scratching his head.</p><p>"Mmhm. Most of them useless," TorqueDawg scowled. "I tell you what, the minute all them weird zombies are gone, TorqueDawg is outta here!" and he shoved Jesse aside as he strolled off randomly.</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow as she caught herself quickly. "Okay. The sea of zombies isn't normal. That's nice to hear."</p><p>"Two moons IS normal though, right?" Petra questioned, brow furrowing in slight concern.</p><p>Sparklez blinked, looking as though Petra had just asked whether the sky was up. "The... moons? Yeah."</p><p>"Why don't you know about this stuff?" TorqueDawg sneered, "you from, like, out of town or something?"</p><p>Before anything else could be said, all the lights went out. Even the furnaces stopped glowing, and Petra's inner glow was just faint enough that she illuminated a small patch of floor and not much else. The darkness was unnaturally dark, so dark that even Jesse's night vision couldn't see worth beans, just some moving shadows. Everyone let out loud yells of alarm.</p><p>The sound of something dispensing suddenly engaged, and TorqueDawg let out alarmed yells as the dispenser fired several times, loudly, everyone starting to talk loudly as they milled around, trying to get their bearings.</p><p>"What in the name of Notch is going on?!" Jesse asked, bewildered, before the lights went back on- and everyone gasped.</p><p>TorqueDawg lay on the ground, chest impaled with an arrow, arm impaled, and an arrow sticking out of his leg as he lay on the floor. Jesse's mouth fell open. "What the ffffffffffff<em>reaking heck</em>!" Jesse changed her words quickly, mouth hanging open in dismay at the sight of the rude male lying on the ground with his mouth open.</p><p>TorqueDawg exploded into a puff of smoke, leaving the arrows and other various items behind. Sparklez let out a gasp, hands going to his mouth. "TorqueDawg?!" he exclaimed.</p><p>Jesse sucked in a huge breath of air. "O...kay, this just got really worrying really fast," she mumbled, thoughtfully.</p><p>Sparklez flailed his arms in the air in a huge panic. "All those arrows! His inventory! Everywhere! How did that- who- what-!? One minute he's alive, the next-!" And he covered his face with his arms.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms, looking down at the ground. "Yeah, what the heck even happened? Did anyone see?"</p><p>Petra shook her head, frowning. "I have pretty good night vision... but-"</p><p>"You couldn't see anything?" Jesse finished.</p><p>"Yeah," Lukas agreed, "it's... it's the first time I've been scared of the dark since... since we..." His ears quivered.</p><p>Jesse looked up with a sigh- and then started. "Oh... hello, there, little dispenser. I think we know what you dispense now."</p><p>Lukas followed her gaze up. And then he started. Jesse could tell because his tail bushed out so much it looked like a cactus. He then proceeded to swear so badly that Jesse's ears probably censored it out.</p><p>"And I thought I sweared badly," Jesse said, chuckling faintly, before leaning towards the floor. "Hm, let's... see what we can figure out, here." She looked at his inventory, eyes narrowing. "Gunpowder, redstone dust, leather... pants... um, looks pretty much like one would expect, I suppose."</p><p>A loud thunking sound, and Jesse stepped back hastily as the section of floor holding the inventory sank into the ground... before dropping entirely, leaving a gaping hole in the floor.</p><p>Jesse blinked, before reaching out and peeking into the trapdoor cautiously. "Hmm, looks like a matching set with that dispenser up there..." she hummed.</p><p>"But you saw his stuff," Petra said, one hand on her hip and the other on her chin, "he didn't really have anything worth stealing."</p><p>Jesse'd stopped paying all that much attention. Something strange was striking her about the arrow, but she couldn't tell what. Reaching out cautiously, she pulled one of the arrows out of the ground, and peered at it cautiously. "Something's... off about this arrow," she mumbled, before looking up at her d- <em>mentor.</em> <em>Mentor</em>, not <em>dad</em>, why did that thought keep crossing her head. "Ivor, you know potions and enchantments better than all the rest of us combined. What do you think?" And she handed it over.</p><p>Ivor reached out, took the arrow, and examined it carefully. After a moment of examining it, he sniffed it, before sticking out his tongue and barely touching the tip of it to his tongue.</p><p>He immediately spat it out. "Yes. Smell and taste is almost synonymous with Potion of Poison, though nowhere as near as strong as the ones I can make with your venom, Jesse," he said, hand tight on the arrow.</p><p>"Oh, is it a t-tipped arrow?" Sparklez asked nervously, eyes flicking from the hybrids to the arrow with the strange green tip. "I've heard of those. They're... they're still pretty new."</p><p>"Ever seen them used before?" Jesse asked, curiously.</p><p>"In a trap like this? No way," and Sparklez shook his head pretty furiously, before putting a hand to his chin. "Could've sworn I saw someone doing a tutorial on how to make those not too long ago..."</p><p>Jesse raised her eyebrow as Ivor handed the arrow back to her, looking as though he was standing tauter than a bowstring at full draw. "But my nerves are too shot to remember who right now!" Sparklez huffed.</p><p>"Hello? Everything okay in here- GAH!"</p><p>The four hybrids and Sparklez jumped as a girl with pink hair wandered into the room, and then jumped back a couple steps.</p><p>Jesse looked down at her four extra arms, then at her friends. Lukas had darted behind Sparklez and his hair was standing up on end again, hissing softly, while Petra had actually hovered into the air from her jump. Then she looked back at the girl, who was staring at Jesse and her friends with an open mouth.</p><p>Petra finally, sheepishly, waved a bit. "Ah... hello."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0098"><h2>98. Getting Kinda Crowded in Here</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Sparklez, what's going on?" the pink-haired girl asked the boy immediately, blue eyes wide and curious.</p><p>Sparklez rubbed his head awkwardly. "I, uh... was just about to get everyone together to tell them all at once." Walking past her, he left the room, presumably to get the other people now.</p><p>The pink-haired girl squinted at the four of them, before her eyes widened. "Hang on a minute... it's you! I recognize you!" she exclaimed.</p><p>Jesse blinked. Looked down at her extra arms and back at her friends again. Before turning back to the pink-haired girl with a raised eyebrow. "'Recognize us'? Um... how?"</p><p>"I'll, um, I'll show you," the girl said, a bit nervously, "follow me."</p><p>"Um... okay," Petra said, nervously, before floating back to the floor and following her, all four of them starting to trot after the pink-haired girl, who kept looking over her shoulder at them.</p><p>"You know we don't bite, right?" Jesse asked, teasingly.</p><p>The pink-haired girl quickly whipped back around to face the front. Jesse now kind of regretted the joke.</p><p>Turning the corner, Lukas suddenly winced and grabbed his nose. "<em>Gah!</em>" he yelped loudly.</p><p>Jesse turned to look at the ocelot hybrid, all of them stopping to look at him. "Uh, you okay, Lukas?" she asked, concerned.</p><p>"Yeah, yeah, give- give me a second- <em>who's</em> wearing perfume?!" Lukas coughed, cautiously taking his hands off of his face, blue-green eyes watering slightly.</p><p>All three of Lukas's friends blinked. "Someone's wearing perfume?"</p><p>"Yeah, quite a bit of it too." Lukas coughed again, wiping at his eyes with his tail. "I'm used to it now. It was just a bit too heavy a couple seconds ago when I first got a whiff of it."</p><p>"Lizzie, hi! Did you see all of these new- oh! You've got them with you," and a girl with long red hair and green eyes walked over, a calico cat strolling next to her. Lukas waved to the cat, who purred and tilted its head at the sight of Lukas.</p><p>Now Jesse could smell the perfume, too, but it really wasn't as heavy as Lukas had made it out to be. He must have quite a sensitive nose.</p><p>Jesse walked forward as the red-haired girl and the pink-haired girl walked together, shooting the hybrids nervous looks. And then Jesse looked up at the walls, and her jaw dropped so far it probably hit the floor. There were portraits on the wall... long ones that showed the full body. That wasn't what was startling- Jesse found herself staring at a portrait of... herself. Extra arms and all.</p><p>"At first it was just the people that were already here," the redhead said nervously. Now, when I'm saying redhead, I MEAN redhead. This girl's hair was redder than Petra's. Petra's! "And then... poof! You guys."</p><p>"Well, that's... unexpected," Jesse said, uneasily.</p><p>Petra nodded, staring at her own portrait, blaze rods hovering around her. "Yeah, no kidding..."</p><p>Ivor was staring at himself. "I must say this is... <em>extremely</em> disconcerting, yet very well done," he said, sounding rather uneasy about the whole thing. Jesse looked back at her portrait, shuddering slightly. "You're telling me..."</p><p>Lukas's tail flicked across the floor, but he wasn't looking at the portraits anymore- he was playing with the calico cat, although he had looked at his portrait. "This is... flattering, yet... ridiculously creepy," Jesse said, cupping her elbows in her hands.</p><p>The red-haired girl adjusted her glasses and nodded, rapidly. "Right? At first I was like, 'Oh cool, fan art! Flattering.' But the more I thought about it... creepy is definitely the right word to use," and she shuddered, before going back over to her cat, giving Lukas a nervous smile. "I'm glad to see you like my cat."</p><p>"He's bored," Lukas reported, as the cat meowed again, "and he's hungry, I think. I don't know," and he batted at his ear, "normal cat talk is a bit different from ocelot talk. It's... like a different accent."</p><p>Jesse had to think about that. "You mean like how some people in one section of the world have one accent, and then you move over to the next section and it's completely different?" she suggested.</p><p>"Yeah, like that, only with... cats."</p><p>Jesse snickered at Lukas's statement before looking up, and her smile fell right back off her face. "Oh. That's... not a good sign."</p><p>Lukas followed her gaze, but before he could say anything Sparklez's voice came through the double doors. "Come on, everyone, let's huddle up in the dining room." And he opened it.</p><p>"Wonder if he told them yet," Petra said, quietly.</p><p>"Can't wait to hear the big news."</p><p>"I know!"</p><p>Jesse looked up. A picture of the brown-haired girl and the brown-haired boy were coming in. The boy had goggles on his head.</p><p>"Ooh, I hope there's cake," said a boy wearing an orange hoodie cheerfully, matching the portrait up on the wall. And then- "GOOGLIES!" And the boy with the orange hoodie practically jumped onto the brown-haired boy in fear, knocking him over.</p><p>"Whoa, are you guys- half monster, or something?" the girl in the striped shirt asked, nervously, stepping backwards.</p><p>Jesse blinked. Looked at her friends. "Uh... I am, Petra is," she pointed at Petra, and then she looked at Lukas, who was still communing with the calico cat. "And Lukas is."</p><p>"No I'm not, I'm half cat!" Lukas protested, looking up.</p><p>"Ivor's normal," Jesse continued, deciding to skate over Lukas's statement. Ivor bowed sarcastically.</p><p>"So- so you're not here to hurt us?" The brown-haired boy asked, sounding a bit out of breath from where he was now lying flat on his back on the floor.</p><p>Jesse sighed and shook her head. "No." She probably could've explained more, but honestly right now she was tired and she probably needed some explanations for what was going on before she was in the mood to do any explaining.</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>An awkward silence before the boy who'd yelled 'googlies' got up and said, "Erm, well, perhaps we should go to the dining room, like Sparklez said?" He still sounded nervous, and he twitched a little, as if he was wishing with all of his might to turn on his heel and run away screaming.</p><p>Jesse raised her shoulders in a little shrug, all of her arms going up a bit. "Sure."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0099"><h2>99. Names</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The dining room was cheerfully lit, with a fire and several lamps. In the center of the room was a long table, and at the head of the table, behind the chair, was a picture of a baby zombie riding a chicken. Weird taste in pictures, but hey, Jesse really couldn't judge.</p><p>"Here, let me introduce you all proper," Sparklez said, as the pink haired girl and the brown haired boy- wait, his hair was blue now. When did it change?- talked in the corner.</p><p>"You guys already met Cassie Rose and LDShadowLady," Sparklez introduced, the redhead smiling and nodding when her name was spoken, and the pink-haired girl spoke up, "but my friends call me 'Lizzie'."</p><p>"This is StacyPlays-" The brown-haired girl with the striped shirt waved a bit. "Stampy Cat-" the boy with the orange cat hoodie grinned nervously at them. "and that's Dan 'TheDiamondMinecart'."</p><p>"Wh-when did your hair change color?" Petra asked, looking befuddled. Okay, so it wasn't Jesse's imagination. "Wasn't it-"</p><p>Sparklez interrupted. "It's funny. Before you guys showed up... we all knew each other. Anyway, this is Jesse-" Jesse bowed, with much sarcastic waving of the hands- all of them. There were a few nervous chuckles from that.</p><p>"Petra-" Petra nodded with a small smile. "Lukas-" Lukas batted at his ears with a nervous smile, tail twitching again. "And Ivor," Sparklez finished, Ivor jerking his head in a nod at them.</p><p>"You said there was news?" Dan asked, walking over to Sparklez, "is it good? Good news?"</p><p>Jesse sucked in a slight breath with a wince, and Sparklez frowned. "Ah... yeah, it's, um... bad news, I'm afraid," he said, sheepishly. There was a short silence, before he said, "TorqueDawg... is dead."</p><p>"Good heavens," Stampy responded, Stacy shaking her head with wide eyes. "Oh no..."</p><p>"Wait, what?" Dan asked, frowning.</p><p>"But TorqueDawg was so tough!" Stacy blurted, "there was nothing that could take him down! What happened?!"</p><p>Jesse flicked out the 'tipped arrow' that she'd put away, careful not to cut her finger on it. "This is what got him."</p><p>"Potion of Poison," Ivor said shortly, "and while nowhere near as poisonous as Jesse's, which can cause death instantaneously if ingested and in less than five minutes if bitten..."</p><p>Jesse wished Ivor hadn't said that, it just made her even more nervous about biting her lip now, and probably didn't do anything to calm down everyone else in the room either. "... combined with the arrows itself, it's still quite lethal."</p><p>"Tipped arrows?" Lizzie asked, blinking disbelievingly.</p><p>"Does that mean someone set a TRAP for TorqueDawg? That's nasty!" Stacy said. Jesse had to agree with that there, as she carefully put the arrow away.</p><p>Dan sighed as he sat down in a chair, crossing his arms. "I can't believe TorqueDawg's gone. Just like that!"</p><p>A short silence, before Stacy asked, cautiously, "So... what happened to his stuff?"</p><p>"Whoa! How can you say that?!" Cassie blurted, looking wildly around at Stacy.</p><p>"What? It's a valid question!"</p><p>"Come on, come on, everyone, don't get greedy!" Stampy said loudly, quickly moving forward to block the glaring contest the two girls were now having.</p><p>Jesse frowned, crossing her arms. "His stuff just kinda... disappeared. Went down this weird hole in the floor."</p><p>"Are we just supposed to take your word for that?" Stampy asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.</p><p>"Guys, I saw it too," Sparklez waved his arms around a bit, "Jesse was poking around in TorqueDawg's stuff right before it got sucked into a hopper."</p><p>Lukas suddenly spoke up, making them all jump; he hadn't said anything for several minutes now. "So, I'm looking at this situation here, and I'm trying to figure something out- is this just about TorqueDawg, or is there a bigger picture?"</p><p>"Yeah, why have OUR portraits?" Petra wondered, as Jesse put one hand on her chin, one of the lower ones on her hip, the middle ones crossing across her midriff, the other lower one hanging down lazily, and the other upper one crossed across her chest.</p><p>"I dunno, guys, knowing TorqueDawg, I think this might just be about him," Lizzie said, a slightly sour look coming across her face.</p><p>"Am I picking up some beef here?" Petra asked flatly, "because none of us really like eating meat."</p><p>"I only like fish," Lukas contributed.</p><p>Jesse looked at Lizzie, one eyebrow raising. "There something you not telling us, Lizz?" she asked, kindly enough.</p><p>"What? No," Lizzie said, shaking her head, "that- that came out wrong. You know what, forget I said anything."</p><p>Everyone shared a lot of glances, before Lizzie said, pulling out her invitation, "Well someone brought us all here for a reason, including TorqueDawg."</p><p>"What if we're all in danger?" Dan asked, frowning. Stacy's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Dan's right!"</p><p>Stampy waved his arms around. "Whoever's doing this, they could be hunting us!"</p><p>Jesse frowned again, red and green eyes narrowing. "Hm, that does seem likely... but <em>why</em> would they be hunting us...?"</p><p>There was only silence at her words. Dan and Lizzie went to go sit next to each other and started talking softly. Stacy and Stampy went off to stand next to the fire, and Cassie and Sparklez wandered towards the picture with the chicken on it.</p><p>"The more I think about it, the more I think there's something these people really don't want us to know," Ivor said, flatly enough. And though he was being blunt about the whole thing, Jesse was pretty sure that her d-<em>mentor</em> was right.</p><p>"Well, then, we're just going to have to figure it out," she said, putting one hand on her hip.</p><p>Lukas grinned slightly, blue-green eyes glowing slightly in the dark. "Well, let's get investigating, then."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0100"><h2>100. Investigating</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse trotted over to Dan and Lizzie, smiling slightly. "Um, hi there! Dan, Lizzie," she said, awkwardly.</p><p>Dan jumped several inches out of his chair and conked foreheads with Lizzie. Rubbing his forehead, he turned to look at her. "Oh, uh, hello."</p><p>"Hi there!" Lizzie said, giving Jesse a smile.</p><p>"If you don't mind, I have some questions about this whole... situation," Jesse said, sliding into the chair nearest to them.</p><p>Dan and Lizzie shared a look, before Dan shrugged. "Yeah? Go ahead."</p><p>"It seems like people were REALLY interested to see what was in TorqueDawg's inventory," Jesse started, lower arms pulling out some yarn and beginning to play around with it. "Any idea why?"</p><p>Lizzie shook her head with a shrug. "An adventurer like him? He could've had all sorts of cool stuff," she responded, casually.</p><p>"Cool, okay-" Jesse felt something fluffy poke into her hands, and she looked down to see Lukas eyeing the yarn. Rolling her eyes, she started petting the ocelot hybrid, who started purring happily as he batted lazily at the yarn. Looking back up at the two people with a sheepish smile, she continued, "Lizzie, seems like you're not much of a TorqueDawg fan. Why's that?"</p><p>"Oh come on," Lizzie said, after a second's hesitation, "you met him, right? Nobody liked that guy! I'm just the only one who'll actually admit it."</p><p>Dan gave Lizzie another look. "He, um... yeah, he definitely wasn't the nicest person."</p><p>"Understatement of the year," Jesse remarked drily, making the both of them snicker a bit. "Okay, so TorqueDawg was pretty clearly targeted with this trap... why?"</p><p>Dan frowned a bit, crossing his arms. "Well, he WAS bragging about having some kind of 'rare item'," he said, thoughtfully.</p><p>Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't show it to anyone, of course. Typical TorqueDawg."</p><p>"So this... rare item, that TorqueDawg claimed to have?" Jesse quickly asked, arching her eyebrow and managing with some difficulty to pay attention to the conversation- Lukas was now purring louder than a carburetor. "What can you tell me about it?"</p><p>"We don't know exactly," Lizzie responded hesitantly.</p><p>"Yeah, sorry," Dan apologized.</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow. "Uh huh... okay, that's it for now. Thanks."</p><p>And she got up, being careful not to knock Lukas off her lap. Blinking, Lukas looked up at Jesse, his cheeks turning the faintest shade of pink. "So what's up?"</p><p>"It's a bit tangled up," Jesse said, dropping her voice to a soft whisper, "but it sounds like TorqueDawg was claiming that he had some... 'rare item'..."</p><p>"Didn't see anything like that in his inventory, though..." Lukas said thoughtfully, getting back up and following Jesse as she strolled towards Stacy and Stampy.</p><p>"Yeah, something's not really adding up..." Jesse raised her voice as she smiled at the two of them. "Hey! Uh, Stampy and Stacy, right?"</p><p>Stampy turned around, blinking. "Oh, um, uh, hello!"</p><p>"Hey, Jesse," Stacy said tentatively, "what's up?"</p><p>Jesse put her hands on her hips as Lukas sat down next to the fire, watching the two others as Jesse said, awkwardly, "I know things are a bit nuts right now, but I have a couple questions."</p><p>"Oh? Really? What?" Stampy asked, blinking again.</p><p>"Anyone you can think of that would want... something bad to happen to TorqueDawg?" Jesse asked, dropping her voice to a lower volume.</p><p>Stampy's lips twisted a little as he thought. "Well, <em>I</em> never had THAT big of a problem with him personally, but I do know other people did. Quite a few, actually. I don't know if you noticed, but... he was a bit of a griefer."</p><p>"Yeah, and a thief," Stacy said, sharply, arms crossed.</p><p>"Thief, hm? Interesting... okay, so, seems like Lizzie and TorqueDawg REALLY didn't like each other... know anything else about that?" Jesse questioned.</p><p>Stampy nodded. "Oh, that! Real shame, real shame."</p><p>"He broke into her house and stole a bunch of stuff from her," Stacy responded rather flatly, "she was super upset about it."</p><p>Jesse grimaced. "Oh, jeez, well, anyone would be pretty ticked off if THAT happened to them... anyway, Stacy, you seemed pretty curious about what was in TorqueDawg's inventory- what's up with that?"</p><p>"He WAS a pretty notorious thief," Stacy responded, "I was just curious about what kind of stuff he had. That's it."</p><p>"Fair enough, okay, catch you later," Jesse said, waving a little bit as she walked back over to her friends, Lukas in tow. "No problem!" Stampy said, smiling at her.</p><p>"Did you find anything out from Stacy or... uh, SturdyCat?" Petra asked, scratching her head.</p><p>"StampyCat," Jesse corrected, "and apparently TorqueDawg was a well known thief, which may have had something to do with it. I'm gonna keep asking around."</p><p>Petra nodded as Lukas batted at his ears again. "Hope you find some stuff out," she said.</p><p>"So do I," Jesse answered, before walking over to Sparklez and Cassie, Lukas trailing behind a bit. "Hey, Sparklez. And... Cassie Rose, yeah?"</p><p>"Yep! Hi, that's me," Cassie said, smiling brightly at Jesse.</p><p>"Hey there, Jesse," Sparklez said, sounding rather subdued.</p><p>"Winslow says hi, too, haha," and Cassie smiled fondly at her calico cat.</p><p>Lukas squinted at Winslow before responding, "Actually, I'm pretty sure he's saying something about wanting a fish."</p><p>Jesse stifled a laugh as she put her hands on her hips, smiling at them. "Well, you guys mind if I ask you some questions?"</p><p>"Nope! What are the questions?" Cassie asked, smiling.</p><p>"I feel like there was... drama, between Lizzie and TorqueDawg earlier?" Jesse started off, as Lukas and Winslow started quietly talking to each other, "got any insight on the whole thing?"</p><p>"Sorry, I'm not getting wrapped up in that," Sparklez said immediately, "especially now that TorqueDawg is... y'know."</p><p>Cassie put her hands on her hips. "But it's weird, right? Definitely seems like there's some beef. Not that- not that I want to get into rumors or anything like that," she said quickly.</p><p>"Any guesses as to why someone would kill TorqueDawg?" Jesse questioned, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>"Oh gosh," Cassie said, putting her hands on her hips again, "gosh, he was... a little, uh... prickly around the edges, you know? You'd have to ask other people about that, I didn't... didn't really know him."</p><p>"I don't really wanna say anything bad about a guy that's not here to defend himself," Sparklez added, "but... well, you met him, right? Prickly is kind of an understatement."</p><p>"Mmm. Cassie, you seemed kinda upset about people wanting to poke around TorqueDawg's inventory..." Jesse trailed off, looking at the redhead with waiting eyes.</p><p>"Oh... was I?"</p><p>"Kinda were," Lukas said, from where he was talking with Lukas. "And no, Winslow. I do not have a girlfriend."</p><p>Winslow meowed, and Lukas's face turned pink as he looked at Jesse awkwardly. "... no comment."</p><p>"You just commented. Anyway, yeah, you kinda were," Jesse agreed, looking back to Cassie, "why's that?"</p><p>Cassie frowned, before spluttering slightly, "Well, it was just so- so insensitive, right? It just happened, and she was all curious about what was in his <em>pockets.</em> Just... made me mad, I guess."</p><p>"I asked Stacy about why she wanted to see TorqueDawg's inventory so bad," Jesse responded, "she said she was just curious."</p><p>"Huh, just like me. What a coincidence!"</p><p>Jesse smiled slightly, before saying calmly, "Sparklez. Cassie. Winslow. Thanks for your time."</p><p>"No problem," Cassie said, casually.</p><p>"Yeah, any time."</p><p>Jesse and Lukas walked back to Petra and Ivor, who were barely talking. "Anything?" Petra asked.</p><p>"Found out this group has a whole ton of secrets they're keeping from each other," Jesse responded.</p><p>"That's definitely something," Petra said encouragingly.</p><p>"So TorqueDawg was a thief, and he allegedly had this 'rare item'... but something's still missing. No one's telling me what the 'rare item' is," Jesse hummed, thoughtfully.</p><p>"I think I can shed some light on that situation, actually," and Jesse jumped a bit as Sparklez came up to them, rubbing his head awkwardly.</p><p>Petra grinned, her eyes gleaming. "Well, now my curiosity is piqued."</p><p>"Thank Notch SOMEONE'S being direct with me," Jesse said, a relieved smile coming across her face, "thanks, Sparklez."</p><p>Sparklez nodded, before starting, "There's a temple, way out in the middle of nowhere. No one knows who built it, but it's been there forever. People have been trying to track down the temple's location for ages, because they want this treasure that's supposedly deep in its basement. Now, it LOOKS just like an ordinary flint and steel-" Jesse's eyes widened- "but it's actually super rare. It has this enchantment on it and-"</p><p>"It can open portals to other worlds?" Jesse asked, flatly.</p><p>"Exactly! Wait- what? You know about the enchanted flint and steel?"</p><p>Jesse reached into her pocket and held up the glowing, blue flint and steel.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0101"><h2>101. Two Down, Tons to Go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Whoa, whoa, don't just pull it out!" Sparklez hissed, shoving it back at Jesse and nearly hitting her in the stomach, "it's a really, REALLY sensitive topic, here!" He was looking around wildly, as if in a massive panic.</p><p>Jesse, bewildered, quickly stowed away the flint and steel as Sparklez thought for a moment, eyes becoming rather thoughtful.</p><p>"Hey!" he said suddenly, making all four of them jump again, "I think I'm starting to see what's going on here!"</p><p>And he trotted off, making Jesse and the others follow him. Jesse shot a rather confused look to her friends, and got an equally confused look right back. None of them had any idea what he meant. Great.</p><p>"Everyone? Everyone!" Sparklez called out, as everyone quickly got into seats. Dan and Lizzie remained sitting in their chairs at the back of the table, while Sparklez got into the seat at the head of the table. Cassie sat next to his right, Stampy sat next to Cassie, and Stacy sat between Lizzie and Stampy. Ivor sat at Sparklez's left, Lukas sat next to Ivor, and Petra sat next to him. Jesse stood next to Sparklez.</p><p>"Jesse and I have figured something out," Sparklez said, raising his voice, "Whoever killed TorqueDawg, whoever invited us... they're after the enchanted flint and steel-"</p><p>He was suddenly catapulted backwards, everyone letting out yells of shock, his seat back slamming into the floor as he pitched head over heels into a large hole that had opened up right behind him, before the chair slid back into place. Hearing pistons moving, Jesse looked up as several huge blocks of sand slammed into the floor where Sparklez had just fallen.</p><p>"<em>No!</em>" Jesse yelled, starting forward- and then the room was plunged into utter darkness, except for a small patch of floor around Petra, whose eyes were wide as saucers. Even then, Jesse's eyes couldn't see anything- her night vision was useless!</p><p>"<em>Panicpanicpanicpanicpanic-"</em></p><p><em>"</em>What just happened?!"</p><p>"Stampy! Pull yourself together!"</p><p>"<em>-panicpanicpanicpanicpanic-!"</em></p><p>"I can't see!"</p><p>"Sparklez!"</p><p>"Somebody get the lights!" Jesse practically bellowed.</p><p>A moment later, her wish was granted- but the room was washed in a pale blue, eerie light that gave off an incredibly chilling atmosphere, along with the white pumpkin heads that had replaced the lights.</p><p>The most noticeable difference was the one you wouldn't spot immediately, but once you did see it you couldn't forget it- the painting of the zombie riding the chicken was gone. And in it's place was the figure Jesse had seen in the window earlier.</p><p>"Greetings," a voice growled, echoing throughout the room, "<em>adventurers.</em> I... AM THE WHITE PUMPKIN."</p><p>Sparklez's inventory had floated up to the floor in front of them, as the 'White Pumpkin' continued, in that horribly gravelly voice, "One of you has the treasure I desire... and I will not rest until it is mine!"</p><p>Sparklez's stuff went down a hopper, as the voice continued, "even if I have to resort..." The lights flickered out, and when they came back on a figure wearing a white pumpkin head and wearing a strange outfit was standing where the painting had been previously. "<em><strong>TO MURDER!</strong></em>"</p><p>"Whoa!" Petra yelled, starting back a step.</p><p>"More panicking, more panicking!" Stampy... er... panicked.</p><p>"'White Pumpkin'?" Lizzie wondered.</p><p>"I'm too cute to die!"</p><p>The lights flickered out once again, and when they came back on the painting of the White Pumpkin was back in place, thunder cracking through the sky as lighting sliced open the dark rainclouds.</p><p>"They killed Sparklez!" Dan yelled, eyes wide, "they killed Sparklez!"</p><p>Stampy babbled something that was unintelligible and went sprinting away, waving his arms in a hot panic. Lukas's tail was bushed up, but he turned to Stampy, alarmed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on! Hang on!" he shouted, whipping around to see Stacy backing away, shaking. "This is awful! Terrible!"</p><p>"Who was that guy?!" Cassie cried out.</p><p>"And there's no such thing as 'white pumpkins'!" Dan added, as Stampy came sprinting back around, still in a hot panic. "Tell <em>that</em> to the white pumpkins hanging all over the place!" Stampy almost screeched at the top of his lungs.</p><p>Cassie had curled up into a ball against the wall, rocking in the corner. "I don't like it! I really don't like it!" she bawled.</p><p>"I saw him in the window when we first got here!" Jesse shouted out over the panicking.</p><p>"You mean he's been in here the <em>whole time?!</em>" Cassie's voice had risen to hysterical levels, as she now unfurled to her feet, racing away, "I'm so getting out of here!"</p><p>Winslow bolted after his red-haired master, meowing loudly as he chased after her, the gang watching after her. A moment later, a loud scream rang out from Cassie, and Jesse dropped to all eights and bolted for the door of the dining room, Petra flying into the air and Lukas sprinting after her. "I don't like the sound of that," Ivor said rather darkly, racing after them.</p><p>Jesse slammed through the door, to see Cassie backing away from the front doors, shaking like a leaf as zombies lurched towards the doorway.</p><p>Jesse reacted faster than she'd ever reacted before- her legs were moving, and she was tearing across the floor, before unfurling to her feet and practically slapping the lever so that it flipped, slamming the iron doors shut.</p><p>Lukas skidded over, his tail still standing on end as Winslow meowed piteously. He meowed back, and listened as Cassie carefully picked up her cat, before hugging the cat as tightly as she could without hurting him. "So, we're stuck in here," she said, shakily, "and if we're stuck in here, we're all doomed!"</p><p>The others meekly meandered through the doorway, Jesse's lungs still heaving to gasp in some air. "Not... necessarily," she panted out.</p><hr/><p>"I <em>thought</em> I heard Sparklez say something about flint and steel?" Stacy asked, all of them sitting on the chairs in the living room, but none of them actually relaxing. Lukas's tail was still bushy as he paced around the room nervously, and Petra was so twitchy that she'd managed to set one of the chairs on fire by accident. Ivor's already pale face was even paler than usual.</p><p>"Oh, please don't bring that up again," Stampy said, uneasily.</p><p>"Well, obviously TorqueDawg didn't steal it," Lizzie responded, rather flatly.</p><p>Dan frowned a bit. "Okay, but WHO then?"</p><p>"Uh... Jesse?"</p><p>Jesse looked over at Lukas, whose tail had gone very, very bushy once again. She followed his gaze to see another one of the X-ed out portraits.</p><p>But what made her stomach go stone cold was the fact that TorqueDawg's was next to Sparklez...</p><p>And next in line was Ivor.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>100 chapter special</strong>
</p><hr/><p>Lukas was sitting in the dining room. Jesse had gone off to go take a quick rest from all the interviewing and was sitting in a corner, quietly.</p><p>He heard meowing, and looked down to see the little calico cat looking up at him. "Oh, hey Winslow."</p><p>More meowing.</p><p>"I told you I don't have a girlfriend earlier."</p><p>Meow.</p><p>"And no, Jesse is not my girlfriend!"</p><p>More meowing and a soft purr.</p><p>"No, she's not my ex! We're just friends, Notch!"</p><p>Another meow and a couple hisses.</p><p>"Look, I will give you a fish if you stop bugging me about my love life!" Lukas said, his face now bright red.</p><p>A moment of silence before there was another meow. Lukas let out a groan and slapped his palm to his face.</p><p>"Whatcha guys talking about, Lukas?"</p><p>Lukas jumped and nearly hit himself in the face with his arms, tail going bushy. "GAH!"</p><p>Jesse smirked at that. "Glad to see I'm scary," she teased him gently.</p><p>"Oh, shut up," and he scowled at her, although he ruined it a moment later when he smiled. Jesse chuckled and sat down next to him, rubbing her fingers through his hair. "I know things are all stressful right now with all this... TorqueDawg business, but we've earned a bit of a break, haven't we?" she said mildly, stroking him absentmindedly.</p><p>Lukas's eyes went rather dreamy. "Mm-hm," he hummed happily.</p><p>He met Winslow's eyes almost sleepily. If smugness was possible to have on a cat, Winslow's face would be chock-full of it.</p><p>"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Lukas grumbled softly at the calico cat, who seemed to snigger. Or, well, the cat's equivalent of a snigger anyway.</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>Lukas leaned into Jesse's petting, closing his eyes as the soothing feeling he always got when Jesse petted him settled over him like a warm blanket. "Nothing."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0102"><h2>102. Every Puzzle Has an Answer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Well," Ivor said, lightly. Jesse turned to look at the male who was almost the equivalent of her father now, who had an oddly calm look on his face. "I guess I'm next then."</p><p>"There's no way in hell I'm letting that happen," Jesse growled angrily, both eyes flashing red.</p><p>Petra nodded, eyes heating up. "Yeah. We're not letting that happen," she agreed. Knowing how much Petra was wary of Ivor, this actually meant quite a lot.</p><p>Lukas's fists clenched angrily, and he managed a nod through his anger. Jesse could tell he was angry because his tail was twitching quite erratically, and his pupils were literally slits. At this point it would've been more accurate to say he was pissed off beyond belief.</p><p>"I'll protect you," Jesse said, gaze softening a little as she looked at Ivor.</p><p>Ivor's dark blue eyes also softened, as he stared at Jesse. "Thank you, Jesse," he said, oddly softly, "I just hope that this 'White Pumpkin' isn't beyond both of our abilities."</p><p>Lukas relaxed a bit, eyes going more or less back to normal. "Well," he said, almost stiffly, "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for how the White Pumpkin is doing all of this. I mean, the whole place is pretty much rigged with traps, right? TorqueDawg- trap. Sparklez- trap."</p><p>Jesse nodded, a small smile coming over her face as she said, putting one of her lower hands on her hips, "Yeah, we need to figure out what's making these traps tick."</p><p>All four of them grinned, before Jesse pointed at the still-open dining room door. "Okay, I'm going to investigate that dining room," she said to them evenly. The actual prospect of going back to the room where someone had died and where a murderer could be lurking was actually kind of terrifying, but she wasn't really letting on, besides the slightest nervous quiver of her voice.</p><p>"Cool," Petra agreed immediately, "I'll keep those guys in the hall for now so I can keep an eye on everyone."</p><p>"Excellent idea," Ivor conceded, "don't want them messing up the crime scene."</p><p>Lukas looked at Jesse, concern reflecting in his eyes. "I'm sticking with you, Jesse- doesn't really seem safe to wander off alone."</p><p>Jesse smiled gratefully at her friend, and the two of them walked back towards the dining room, as Ivor practically bellowed, "Okay, people, clear out! This is a crime scene!"</p><p>The room was still lit in the tones of blue, except for the fireplace, which glowed red and seemed to cast eerie shadows all over the whole room. Jesse crossed her arms thoughtfully as Lukas shut the door behind them. "Okay, how are you doing this, White Pumpkin?" she hummed, thoughtfully.</p><p>Jesse trotted over to the painting, and looked at it. "Hm, this was the spot where the White Pumpkin appeared, but now... it's just the portrait," she said thoughtfully, before her eyes narrowed at it. "Un...<em> less...</em>"</p><p>Reaching one of her upper arms back, drawing it back as far as it would go, she then threw her whole weight into the punch, breaking the painting into little pieces almost immediately. The White Pumpkin appeared, and Jesse went tense, upper arm straying towards her sword.</p><p>Nothing. Not even a twitch. Jesse relaxed, feeling immensely relieved but incredibly disappointed at the same time. "It's... just a costume. On an armor stand, with a jukebox for the voice. Don't know how it was triggered, of course..." she said, knowing that her voice sounded almost saturated with the relief she felt.</p><p>Lukas let out a low whistle, ears perking up. "Wow. The White Pumpkin must have... I dunno, Ellegaard or Olivia level redstone skills to rig up something as convoluted as this." And then his eyebrows descended thoughtfully. "... but why? Must've taken a lot of work to rig up..."</p><p>Jesse's lips twisted at this, and she was quiet for a second. "I think it was mostly a scare tactic, but... maybe it was a diversion, from whatever was going on in the room at the time," Jesse hummed thoughtfully, staring thoughtfully at the setup.</p><p>Lukas's ears perked up even more. "What, like you think the White Pumpkin was <em>in the room with us?!</em>" he yelped, eyes wide.</p><p>"Possibly... but like I said, it's probably most to just to scare the living daylights out of us," Jesse said, giving a slight shrug.</p><p>Lukas's ears twitched, looking almost irritated at that. "Yeah, well, it worked," he huffed.</p><p>Jesse looked stonily up at the setup one last time, before turning away from it- even knowing it was just a costume, it still creeped her out. "Yeah."</p><p>Jesse's eyes fell on the table, and she crossed her arms, walking around it. "Okay, so, this was the dining table where we were all gathered right... before..." Jesse trailed off, and her eyes darkened a little here. "Oh, <em>hello...</em>"</p><p>Reaching forward, Jesse tagged the button with her middle arm, and the head seat back flung backwards, a hole opening up in the floor, and sand blocks fell from the ceiling into the floor.</p><p>"Just like before-!"</p><p>The lights went out, but Jesse knew what was happening, even as the voice started going on about it being the White Pumpkin. "Yep," Lukas said, his eyes narrowing angrily, "<em>just</em> like before."</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms thoughtfully, glaring at the costumed armor stand as thunder struck again, the whole room flickering a bit from the lightning strike.</p><p>The doors banged open loudly, and Petra charged in. "<em>Jesse!</em>" she yelled, skidding a couple steps, before running towards Jesse and Lukas full tilt.</p><p>"He's back! The White Pumpkin's back!" Stampy shouted, waving his arms like pinwheels.</p><p>"No no no, don't worry, it's just a dummy," Jesse said quickly, even getting up onto the stand and poking the costume to prove her point, "a White Pumpkin costume on an armor stand."</p><p>"Wait- what? Why?" Dan asked, sharply.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms, a shadow crossing her face. "The trap that killed Sparklez, the whole... <em>show</em>, with the White Pumpkin... it was all triggered by a button under the table," she said, almost darkly.</p><p>"What does that mean?" Lizzie asked, with a frown.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms, looking up at them. She didn't know it, but right then, with most of her face clouded in shadow except for her glowing red eye, and her black armor, and her extra arms, she looked downright scary. "It means, that the killer sat right at this table."</p><p>"Wait- so you're saying that the White Pumpkin- is one of us!?" Stampy exclaimed.</p><p>Jesse nodded, her eyes moving over Dan, with his ever-changing hair color, Lizzie, with bubblegum-pink hair and a cheerful air, Stacy, who seemed a bit more cynical, Stampy, who seemed cheerful and random, and Cassie, with her glasses and perfume and her calico cat. "That's right. One of us... is a murderer."</p><p>Another loud thunder strike that rather ruined the effect, since Jesse jumped a bit at the loud clap of thunder.</p><p>"And he sat right here," Ivor said, indicating a button under the table.</p><p>Jesse blinked, shaking her head and looking bewildered. Lukas finished the thought for her. "Wait, but... that's not where Jesse found the button before!" he exclaimed.</p><p>Jesse let out a long-suffering sigh and pressed her face into her hands. "Why can things never be <em>easy</em>?" she complained.</p><p>"I'll see if I can find all the buttons," Lukas said, and he quickly moved around the table, stabbing arrows into the table in front of the places where he found a button.</p><p>"Nice work, Jesse," Petra said, clapping a hand to her friend's shoulder.</p><p>"Yes, I must say I'm relieved to know that there's a logical explanation for what the White Pumpkin's been doing," Ivor said, and indeed his face looked less pasty than before.</p><p>Jesse gave them a smile that didn't bely how queasy she felt.</p><p>Because even though they'd made some progress in the 'case', this whole thing had just gotten a thousand times harder.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0103"><h2>103. Interrogations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So what now?" Petra wondered, putting her hands on her hips. "Feels like we've made some good progress so far, though, right?"</p><p>Jesse twirled one lock of hair around her finger absentmindedly. "We need to pull together all our evidence, and see how it connects. The tipped arrow means that the White Pumpkin has to be a pretty good brewer, and the traps show that they're a real redstone expert."</p><p>"Okay, that's all of them," Lukas said, walking back over to the group.</p><p>"If you could all please take the same seat you were at before," Jesse called out, everyone filing to their respective place at the table. "Four of your seats are marked- these are the seats that had a button to activate the trap. That means that the White Pumpkin could only be.. Dan, Stampy, Lizzie or... Lukas," Jesse said, blinking a bit at the last name.</p><p>"Wait, you're accusing us?!" Lizzie exclaimed.</p><p>"I echo her sentiment exactly! I didn't even see a button!" Stampy responded.</p><p>Jesse put all of her hands up in surrender. "Hey, hey, I'm just <em>saying</em>, those are the places that have the button there, so logic says that the White Pumpkin could only be one of you guys," she said, calmly. "I'm not really accusing anyone... yet."</p><p>"Sure sounds like you're accusing us, stranger," Stampy said sharply, "and I don't care for it!"</p><p>Jesse put one of her lower arms on her hip, arching her eyebrow. "Look, I'm going to try to take charge now, and we're going to get to the bottom of this whole thing. I am going to talk to each, ah, suspect, one by one, so I can find out who's telling the truth, and who's lying. I've got questions, and it would be nice if I could get a straight answer. <em>Got it?</em>"</p><p>"Loud and clear," Stacy said, saluting.</p><p>"Yes," Stampy nodded, "crystal clear."</p><p>"Who're you gonna interrogate first?" Petra asked, looking over at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse's brow furrowed, and she finally said, slowly, "I think I'm gonna go with Lizzie."</p><p>Lizzie started a bit, and Petra took Lizzie by the shoulders and steered her towards the library, which Jesse hurried over to as well. The library was very nice, although there was a rather suspicious lack of books in said library, but whatever, it was a nice library. Jesse looked around at the paintings and at the decor, all of her arms crossing as she scanned the whole place carefully.</p><p>The door opened, and Jesse looked over to see Petra leading Lizzie into the room. Petra gave Jesse a nod, which she returned, before turning around and walking towards the center of the room. Lizzie followed. "Jesse, listen, there's been a whole lot of talk being thrown around today. I don't know what people have told you," and she sat down, "I don't know what you believe, but I'll just admit it- I want that enchanted flint and steel as much as anyone."</p><p>Jesse turned to glance at Lizzie, and you would not believe how creepy it looked, in this dimly lit library with her red eye glowing at Lizzie. Lizzie repressed a shudder and added, "Probably MORE than any of them. I've been searching for it for YEARS. Do you know how much it stung to have Dan, DAN swoop in and take it from under my nose?"</p><p>"Nope. But would you want it enough to kill someone for it?"</p><p>Lizzie's eyes widened, and she hesitated. "... nah. Nah, I wouldn't do that. Starting to get real irritated with this White Pumpkin fella though. Listen, I just wanna get out of here and get on with my day. Or... er... night. What do you have to hear to be convinced that the White Pumpkin isn't me?"</p><p>"Know what this is?" And Jesse carefully pulled out the tipped arrow from earlier.</p><p>"Tipped arrow. Kinda shoddy work though. Definitely not one of mine if that's what you're wondering. Some noob made that thing. Stampy asked me once about how to make those- could be one of his. Plus I taught Cassie and Stacy how to make those a while back," Lizzie added thoughtfully.</p><p>Jesse put the arrow away, and asked, quietly, "Okay, I'm just gonna be straight, who do you think stole the flint and steel?"</p><p>"Well it wasn't me, if you're curious- if I had an enchanted flint and steel I'd be off exploring some other world with it. But me and Dan have been competing to find that thing for years. You're looking for a likely culprit... I'd look at that guy."</p><p>Jesse raised an eyebrow at that. "I'll keep that in mind. You like using redstone? Ever make traps with the stuff?"</p><p>"I'm fine, I guess," Lizzie said, somewhat dismissively, "I can do doors and lights and stuff. You wanna do advanced stuff, you gotta talk to Stampy. He was the Tri-Block Champion."</p><p>Jesse's eyebrow went even higher at that. "'Tri-Block Champion?'"</p><p>"Yeah, like two or three years in a row, if I recall correctly."</p><p>"Thanks for your time, Lizzie, that's all for now," Jesse said, standing back up. Lizzie hopped to her feet and left the library, as Petra looked at Jesse again. "Who's up next?"</p><p>"Bring me Dan, please," Jesse said lightly.</p><p>"Right." And Petra was off.</p><p>A minute later, Dan was in the room with Petra, and he started talking the second the doors shut. "I saw Lizzie on the way out, I don't know what she told you, but- I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guy, honest, I would never hurt anyone, you've got to believe me!"</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms and stared at him with her best poker face.</p><p>"If anyone's been wronged here, it's me. That enchanted flint and steel everyone's talking about? I found it! It's mine! Least it was before someone stole it." And he scowled a bit at the thought.</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow. "So, someone stole your stuff?"</p><p>"Yeah, I just want what's rightfully mine!" Dan said, nodding. Jesse gave him a look, and he added, "I mean, we ALL want it. Doesn't mean I'd kill people for it."</p><p>"Mm-hm," Jesse said mildly.</p><p>"I'm NOT the White Pumpkin, you've gotta believe me!" Dan protested, "what can I tell you to convince you?"</p><p>Jesse put one hand on her hip, the other five crossing. "Okay, out with it, then, who stole the flint and steel?"</p><p>Dan frowned, and looked off to the side uncomfortably. "I don't like, like, accusing people, but... my guess would be Stampy. He likes to play it off like he's not interested in it, but I know he wants it just as much as any of us do."</p><p>Jesse just nodded at that. "Okay. So, how'd you rate your redstone knowledge?"</p><p>"Me. Phoof," and Dan flicked at his white hair. "Not much. Not really my scene. You wanna know more about that stuff you should ask Stampy. He was the Tri-Block Champion."</p><p>"Yep. Three years in a row, according to Lizzie," Jesse nodded, and Dan pointed at her, eyes wide. "There! You see? He's the only one here who could've built such amazing traps."</p><p>Jesse blinked, before clearing her throat and using one of her lower arms to pull out the tipped arrow. "Know anything about this?"</p><p>"Oh wow," Dan said, blinking at it, "uh, no, I've never seen anything like that before."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow at that, crossing all of her upper arms and putting the lower one not holding the tipped arrow on her hip, blinking at him. "No? Tipped arrow not ringing a bell? Made with potions?"</p><p>"Have you talked to Stampy yet? He loves bows and arrows and stuff," Dan responded. Jesse put the arrow away and gave the white-haired boy a nod. "You can go, Dan," and she smiled a little to show she meant no harm.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse. Thank you. And, when Stampy comes in, don't forget to ask him about redstone. He's amazing with that stuff," Dan added, before leaving.</p><p>Petra looked over at her dark-haired spider hybrid friend. "Want me to send in Stampy?"</p><p>"Yes, please."</p><p>Petra left and came back a minute later, the orange-hoodie-wearing boy coming in, looking at Jesse with a nervous look on his face. Jesse stared at him evenly, before turning around and pacing away.</p><p>Stampy darted in front of her, waving his hands. "Jesse, I'm telling you, this is just crazy! Absolutely crazy! Total misunderstanding!"</p><p>Jesse used one of her middle arms to gesture at a chair nearby, which Stampy perched on, saying, still rather nervously, "I don't even WANT that flint and steel thingy! Not, um, not as much as the others, at any rate. Did I hear someone say it has something to do with portals? I don't have any interest in portals, no sir not for ol' Mister Stampy Cat, thank you."</p><p>"Gotta say, Stampy, you seem nervous. Everything okay? You comfortable?" Jesse asked, walking forward so that she was looking down to look at Stampy, her best poker face on.</p><p>"Umm, what? No, I'm not nervous. Nope. Totally comfortable. I could fall asleep right here, right now. I'm that comfortable, honestly," Stampy babbled out, Jesse still staring at him with her poker face. "Pleaase, just tell me what you want to know!"</p><p>Jesse put her lower arms on her hips, stepping back a bit. "What do you know about redstone? What's your skill level with the stuff?" she asked, pleasantly enough.</p><p>"Well, well, you know. About average... average level? Moderate? I dunno how these things are graded these days," Stampy rambled a bit, hands shaking slightly.</p><p>"That's funny... I heard you know all <em>about</em> redstone," Jesse said, casually brushing her hair so one side hung over her green eye. And with her body silhouetted against the fire, Jesse was a very intimidating figure indeed.</p><p>"What? What are you talking about?"</p><p>"Everyone says you're the best at redstone," Jesse responded calmly, "something about being the 'Tri-Block Champion'?"</p><p>"Okay!" Stampy said suddenly. "Okay okay okay, fine, you caught me. I do know redstone. I'm technically even an 'expert'... but I would never KILL anyone, I swear! You have to believe me! Honest!"</p><p>Jesse reached into her pocket and balanced the arrow on her fingertips, extending it to Stampy. "Know anything about this?"</p><p>"Oh, wow, what is that?" Stampy asked, looking at it, interested, "what IS that? Some sort of... magic arrow? No, never seen anything like it before, honest. You know who WOULD love to see something like that, though? Lizzie. She's wild about potions and brewing and all that. She's WAY better with that stuff than I am."</p><p>Jesse hummed, putting the arrow back into her pocket. "Good with potions, you say?"</p><p>"Very good! Could probably even teach a class, ha!"</p><p>Jesse put her hands down, making the boy jump a bit, "'Kay, enough dancing around, who do you think took the flint and steel?" Her voice went deadly serious, her face went completely blank.</p><p>Stampy hesitated for a minute, glancing down at his lap, back up at Jesse, then down at his lap again, before looking back up at Jesse. "I don't think it was actually ever stolen."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow. "Continue."</p><p>"Yeah, so, Dan got to it ahead of Lizzie, right? And she was pretty angry about it. <em>I</em>think he made up that story about it being stolen, so she'd think he didn't have it anymore," Stampy continued.</p><p>Jesse gave the boy a nod. "You're excused, Stampy. Thank you for your time," she said, politely enough.</p><p>"Oh!" And Stampy bounced to his feet. "Thank goodness. This room's making me very nervous." And he trotted out at high speed.</p><p>Jesse was facing the fire, when suddenly the doors banged open again, and Lukas was pushed in by Cassie, ears twitching in annoyance. "Oh, come on! This is nuts!" he complained.</p><p>"You had a button too!" Cassie pointed out, before turning to look at Jesse and Petra. "Fair's fair. It's your buddy's turn next." And she walked back out of the room.</p><p>Jesse sighed and plopped down on the floor as the doors shut behind them.</p><p>"Hey Jesse."</p><p>"Ahh, my final suspect. Here to point more fingers and blame more people, I'm sure," Jesse joked faintly.</p><p>Lukas looked at Jesse, uneasily. "I didn't push the button, you know."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes a bit, a faint smile coming over her face. "I figured."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0104"><h2>104. Accusation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"How's it been going in here?" Lukas asked, looking a little concerned. "It is just nonstop whispering and rumors out there."</p><p>"Kinda rough," Jesse sighed, "these people have so much drama going on, it's worse than a soap opera." Lukas smirked a little at that. "It's hard to tell what's about the flint and steel, what's about the White Pumpkin..."</p><p>"Well, I know you can do it."</p><p>Jesse looked over at her ocelot hybrid friend with a start. Lukas was giving her one of the most sincere smiles she'd ever seen, his ears perked straight up, his tail swishing the floor neatly.</p><p>Jesse smiled back slowly, her eyes crinkling up. "Heh, thanks Lukas."</p><p>Lukas nodded, reaching out and giving her shoulder a squeeze with a warm smile. Jesse returned it.</p><hr/><p>"<em>Jess?"</em></p><p>
  <em>Jesse stirred in her cocoon of blankets. It was so comfortably warm she didn't really wanna move. "Mm?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I had a nightmare."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse turned her head sleepily to see her brother sitting there, tail tucked between his legs, big green eyes filled with fear, his already rather pale skin almost pure white. His hair was standing on end, and his ears were flattened against his head.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"C-can I sleep with you?" he whispered, pleadingly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse was sleepy, so it took her a three-count to respond. "Sure, Jesse." And she managed to untangle some of the blankets enough to let the male slip into the cocoon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Thanks, sissy." And he crawled into the blankets, wrapping his arms around her and giving a slight squeeze. "Love you."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse felt a sleepy smile come over her face as she turned to wrap her arms around him in a hug, squeezing back gently. "Love you too," she hummed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The last thing she remembered before drifting off once again was the way his tail was wagging happily and thwacking gently against her legs in a comforting, metronomic beat.</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Jess?"</p><p>Jesse blinked, and Lukas was looking at her with a bit of concern. "You okay? Just kinda... drifted off, there."</p><p>Jesse waved a bit with one of her lower arms, smiling a bit. "Ahh.. haha, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."</p><p>"'F you say so. We should probably head back, then, huh," Lukas hummed, looking past Jesse at the door.</p><p>Jesse chuckled and gave him a pat on the back. "Sure thing, suspect."</p><p>Lukas very maturely stuck his tongue out at her, which made her laugh.</p><p>Walking back through the doors, Stacy immediately walked towards Jesse, green eyes wide. "So? Have you decided?"</p><p>"Yes, who do you think the White Pumpkin really is?" Stampy asked, curiously.</p><p>Jesse put her hands up in a 'slow down' way. "Okay, hang on, hang on, everyone. First, thanks for answering my questions. There's... still not 100 percent proof of anyone, but-"</p><p>"<em>But</em>?" Dan cut in, making everyone look at him.</p><p>Ivor nodded, looking at Jesse. "Yes, where are your suspicions leaning, Jesse?" he asked, in a softer voice than usual.</p><p>"Jesse was definitely questioning Stampy the longest," Lizzie spoke up.</p><p>"What!? No!"</p><p>"Dan was in there way longer," Stacy put in.</p><p>"Hey, not cool!" Dan snapped back.</p><p>"Guys, guys, come on!" Cassie exclaimed.</p><p>Jesse put her hands up in another 'stop' motion, staring from each key suspect (excluding Lukas) to another, giving them all an even look. "Okay, well, having talked to the key suspects, I think... well, I think it <em>might</em> be..." And she drew her topmost arm back and pointed- right at the boy wearing the orange hoodie. "Stampy Cat!"</p><p>"No!" Stampy protested, eyes wide as Jesse put her arm back down, "that's crazy talk! Absolute crazy talk!"</p><p>"Of the suspects," Jesse said, raising her voice a hair louder and giving him a rather apologetic look, "he's one of the only people with the redstone knowledge to make all of these traps."</p><p>"No no no, you can't really believe this, can you?" Stampy asked pleadingly, giving Jesse a desperate look.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"I did it."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The scientist looked at Jesse, a masklike look on their face. "YOU were the one to destroy the lab?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse swallowed, lifting her head up, forcing the lie out of her mouth. "Yes."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of course, her brother was not one to just take this lying down. "What? No! Sissy, it was my fault! Why are you telling him it's yours-" he protested, his tail wagging more furiously.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Don't lie, okay Jesse?" And Jesse gave her twin a shaky, reassuring smile. "You don't need to protect me."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse shook his head furiously, but before he could say anything more the scientist raised his arm and struck her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse found herself flat on the floor, stars swimming through the air and the entire right side of her face feeling numb as her brother cried out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Next time you do something of this magnitude, don't expect to get off so lightly," the scientist's cold voice echoed, and then he was leaving, she could hear the footsteps.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Jess!" And her brother was crying now, and she didn't want him to cry. Why was he crying? She was okay, right? Seeing the stars was normal, right?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'm okay," she said, dazedly, looking up from her position on the floor into her brother's desperate eyes, his lips trembling in worry at his twin sister, his twin sister who'd just lied to protect him, his twin sister who would do anything and everything to keep her brother safe. "I'm... okay..."</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse's hands were shaking, and she forced herself to look away from Stampy as Dan said, crossing his arms, "I'm thinking we lock him back in that library. Hold him there till morning."</p><p>"Sounds like a good plan!"</p><p>Stampy stared at them all, mouth hanging open in dismay, as Cassie took him by the arm. "Sorry, Stampy, but we can't take any chances here."</p><p>"Oh come on!" Stampy protested, "I'm Stampy Cat! Mr. Stampy! I'm no White Pumpkin!"</p><p>"Well," Ivor said, putting his hands on his hips, "that was certainly some excitement."</p><p>"Yeah, no kidding," Lukas added.</p><p>Jesse stared at her hands, the memory still echoing through her head, the desperate look her brother had given her still imprinted in her mind permanently. Why had she never seen him before? Why was the memory so blanked out of her head?</p><p>Where was he?</p><p>"If the White Pumpkin is still roaming around, though," Petra was saying, "they might be trying to set up more traps. We need to figure out how these things work. Like, we know that the Sparklez trap was triggered by those buttons under the table- but what about the trap that turned TorqueDawg into a pincushion? If we figure out how these things work, we might be able to find more proof about who the White Pumpkin is, how they're operating..."</p><p>Jesse forced herself to put the memory back away, for further scrutiny in a quiet moment. "However the White Pumpkin did it... he must've done it from the kitchen."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0105"><h2>105. Spooky Secret Passageways</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>send shivers down your spine, shrieking souls will shock your soul, seal your doom tonight~</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Yes, seems like it might be worth our while to poke around the kitchen," Ivor nodded, thoughtfully.</p><p>"You guys go on ahead," Lukas said with a nod, "I'm gonna stay here and keep an eye on these other people. I don't want anyone trying anything when we're not looking."</p><p>"Ah, Lukas. Ever the levelheaded one," Jesse teased.</p><p>Lukas rolled his eyes and halfheartedly swiped at her. "Gee, thanks," he joked back.</p><p>Jesse ducked the swipe with a laugh and trotted off. So, back to the kitchen it was.</p><p>"Back in the kitchen," Petra said, hands on her hips, unknowingly imitating Jesse's train of thought. "So, what are we looking for exactly?"</p><p>"We just need concrete evidence- either that Stampy IS the White Pumpkin, or he ISN'T the White Pumpkin. If we're gonna do that, we just need to find something that might show he was involved."</p><p>Petra saluted, slightly playfully. "Got it. I'm on the lookout."</p><p>Jesse looked around the room, before noticing the creeper painting she'd spotted when she first got to the mansion. Man, that felt like ages ago. Trotting over, she took a closer look at the painting, squinting at it. "... does this painting have... eyeholes?" she wondered, reaching out and carefully extending her fingers toward the eyes of the painting...</p><p>Her finger went right through.</p><p>"Oh yeah," Petra said, making Jesse jump slightly, since the voice came from right behind her, "how'd I not notice that before?"</p><p>Jesse's six arms reached out, feeling around the edge of the painting, all six hands getting a good grip, before she used her own strength to carefully lift the painting off. And... yep, there was a small tunnel, right in the wall.</p><p>"Ooh!"</p><p>Jesse giggled a bit at Ivor's exclamation, before hopping inside, careful not to scrape her shoulders on the walls. The little tunnel led into a larger area than it first seemed to be, with a lever on the wall right next to the entrance and a torch not too far behind.</p><p>"It's some sort of secret passageway!" Ivor said, eyes lighting up. Jesse stifled a giggle- from his lab in the Far Lands she knew just how much he liked secret passageways. "Very clever... what do you suppose that lever does?"</p><p>"Okay, everyone, just in case, make sure you're NOWHERE near that arrow trap," Jesse said, leaning out to look through the hole. The two of them looked up and backed away, and Jesse's middle arm reached up and jerked the lever down.</p><p>More tipped arrows spat out of the dispenser and slammed, quivering ominously, into the floor.</p><p>"More of those tipped arrows," Petra said, frowning at said arrows, "nasty." The hopper engaged and sucked them into the floor.</p><p>Ivor turned to look at Jesse, brow raised. "Well, seems like we found how the White Pumpkin killed TorqueDawg..."</p><p>"Yeah, and how he's getting around the house," Jesse agreed, looking behind her into the dark secret passageway. Glancing off to her right, she spotted a ladder, and she went over to it and went up the wall, ignoring the ladder.</p><p>Petra let out a slightly amused sigh and hovered up after her, leaving Ivor to climb the ladder. "I assume we're investigating the creepy passageway?"</p><p>"Your assumption is correct. We've come a little too far to just turn around and call it a day," Jesse responded, also sounding rather amused.</p><p>The network of secret passageways was a winding maze, although nowhere near as difficult as the one in the Far Lands, or the one that the scientists used to test them with. Poking around through the passageways, Jesse cautiously walked through it. You know, in case the White Pumpkin was just standing there and watching them.</p><p>She shuddered a bit at that. Creepy thought.</p><p>"I hope Stampy's okay locked up in the library... we could've put them in even bigger danger." Petra frowned down at the floor, gold eyes a bit pale with worry.</p><p>Jesse's eyes narrowed as she chewed on that thought. "I'm pretty sure he'll be safe in there- I don't think the library has traps," she said firmly, and hoped that by vocalizing it she'd make it true.</p><p>"I sure hope so."</p><p>They all turned a corner, whereupon Jesse spotted another painting back, with eyeholes.</p><p>"Look! Another lever!" and sure enough, Ivor was approaching the lever with interested dark blue eyes.</p><p>Jesse shuddered a bit at the thought of what the lever did. "It's probably another trap. Don't flip it D- Ivor."</p><p>Jesse trotted over to the painting and put her face up to the eyeholes. "It's the library," she said, blinking with interest. "I can see Stampy locked up in there." She kept looking around, spotting a couple dispensers.</p><p>"Hey, I have to speak to you. " And the door was opening to reveal... Dan?</p><p>"Oh! Dan! What are you doing here?" Stampy asked. Yeah, Jesse would like to know that too.</p><p>"I snuck in past that blonde guy. Uh... Lukas? But I have to speak to you. It's really important," Dan said, urgently.</p><p>A short silence, as Dan frowned, and then he blurted out, "It was me... I killed Sparklez!"</p><p>"What?! YOU'RE the White Pumpkin?!" Stampy yelped, backing away. Jesse had started a bit too, and was now practically pressing her face to the peepholes.</p><p>"Oh- what? No no no no." And Dan moved away...</p><p>To reveal that the White Pumpkin painting had a pair of gold, moving eyes.</p><p>"I swear, it was an accident!"</p><p>Stampy sputtered as Jesse froze, eyes wide in horror as she stared at the painting. "But but, Dan, 'accident', really?"</p><p>"I swear, I had no idea, there was this button (I'm not good with buttons) but but I had to push it- I had no clue what it would do, now I feel awful..."</p><p>"Well, it's just... that's a little hard to believe..."</p><p>"I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, I've been beating myself up about it ever since it happened- and then YOU got locked up in here, I just had to come in, clear my conscience."</p><p>Jesse stared at the White Pumpkin painting before shaking her head and jerking away, whirling around to face Petra and Ivor. If she'd had a mirror, she probably would've been paler than Ivor. "The White Pumpkin! He's in there!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0106"><h2>106. The White Pumpkin?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Petra's eyes narrowed, and she whipped out her sword, which flared up into flames. "Then let's go kick his ass into next Tuesday."</p><p>Ivor nodded, dark blue eyes filled with worry, but he kept his mouth shut and said absolutely nothing.</p><p>Jesse let out a soft hiss, whipping out her own sword, and slammed it right through the portrait, knocking it off the wall and making the whole thing crumple into pieces of wood.</p><p>"What in the-"</p><p>Jesse ran for the portrait, but skidded to a stop when she heard a lever being toggled.</p><p>Jerking her head to the left, she saw spiders emerging from the now-open fireplace, crawling out towards Dan and Stampy. Bars slammed down over the doors, and there was banging on the doors. "What's going on?!" Lukas's muffled voice shouted, "The door's locked. <em>Jesse?!</em>"</p><p>"Spiders. Let me handle it!" Jesse shouted back to him.</p><p>"Okay. I'll see if I can get in another way!"</p><p>"Got it!"</p><p>Jesse whirled back to face the spiders again and stamped her foot, drawing all attention to her, as she glowered at the spiders, eyes beginning to glow a faint red. "<em>Bugger off!</em>" she hissed, chest thrumming as she spoke in Spider.</p><p>The spiders all stopped, looking at Jesse, as she raised her hand and pointed at the picture. "<em>Can you do me a favor? Get that guy- the one wearing the white pumpkin head thing!</em>"</p><p>The spiders gave her the spider equivalent of a nod and all turned to face the painting instead, and started creeping towards the painting rapidly.</p><p>Jesse charged forward and slammed through the portrait, revealing the REAL White Pumpkin standing there, glowering at Jesse. "Why you little-"</p><p>Jesse ducked back as the White Pumpkin came through the passageway, spiders all approaching it and everyone holding up their swords defensively.</p><p>The White Pumpkin whipped out a diamond axe and swung it at Jesse. Jesse lunged back, tripped backwards, and her back slammed into the floor, as the White Pumpkin dodged around a spider and raised the axe again, bringing it down at Jesse's head-</p><p>Jesse rolled to her left violently, the axe barely missing and smashing a section of the wooden floor, before she pushed herself back to her feet, whipped out her sword, and slammed the flat of the blade into the White Pumpkin's chest. He- or she- or whoever it was- stumbled back violently, looking a bit dazed, and Jesse took the opportunity to slash her sword up across the mask.</p><p>"My mask!" the White Pumpkin exclaimed, before levelling a glare at Jesse with an expression of pure hatred. Jesse tensed, all the spiders, Stampy, Dan and Petra (since they all had swords) approaching the White Pumpkin.</p><p>"That's my cue," the White Pumpkin hissed, back against the fireplace, with the fire leaving a small path and the walls open- and he turned and leaped through.</p><p>"Come on!" Jesse shouted, and charged forward and veered around the corner after the White Pumpkin- and then the door shut behind her.</p><p>"Jesse, are you okay?!" Petra called through the stone, voice muffled.</p><p>"We have to break through!" Ivor shouted, but then there was a loud cackle from the White Pumpkin from behind Jesse.</p><p>"I'll be fine- make sure everyone's okay! <em>And don't kill anyone or so help me you will all die!</em>" Jesse yelled through the stone, adding a hiss in Spider so the spiders hopefully wouldn't attack her friends, before whirling on her heel and racing down the passageway as fast as she could. Skidding around a corner, she found a staircase with the White Pumpkin standing at the top of it.</p><p>"Try to keep up!" s/he/whatever gender it was shouted, before slamming their foot onto a pressure plate.</p><p>Jesse looked up to see wooden blocks sliding back to reveal... arrow dispensers. She bit her tongue to keep from unleashing a long string of very uncomplimentary swear words at the White Pumpkin.</p><p>"Crapcrapcrap!" Jesse yelped, darting forward onto all eights as tipped arrows hit the ground behind her, barely missing her and racing up the wall, tearing to the top of the wall as the White Pumpkin leered at her from the end of the hallway, smacking a lever. "Look out! Haha!" he laughed.</p><p>Jesse cringed- before realizing that she was on the wall as the floor opened up to reveal soul sand. She sent the White Pumpkin a deadpan look, who was rubbing their head sheepishly. "Good planning," she drawled.</p><p>He/She/They growled in frustration and pulled out an Ender Pearl, tossing it. "Your luck's about to end!" They hurled it, disappearing from sight. Jesse whipped around to see the White Pumpkin hovering over a drop, before falling.</p><p>Jesse raced forward, going down the wall of the staircase as fast as she could, and raced through Ivor's portrait, which the White Pumpkin smashed through.</p><p>Lukas broke through the library doors, then spotted Jesse as Petra, Dan, Stampy, and Ivor (the spiders were nowhere to be found- Jesse was fairly certain they'd gotten killed, unfortunately) went to go kick through the iron bars.</p><p>"This guy's... this guy's fit," Jesse said, shaking a little bit as she jerked her head at the White Pumpkin.</p><p>Another wicked laugh, and Lukas got to all fours and bolted across the floor. "Jesse! I'll cut him off!"</p><p>Jesse nodded and dropped to all eights, racing after Lukas as well, and then racing up another staircase wall, dropping to the floor of a darkened room. "Lukas?" she called, nervously.</p><p>The lights flickered on, to reveal the White Pumpkin standing there, swaying uneasily. "Ugh... Jesse..."</p><p>And even though the clothing seemed off, Jesse couldn't risk it- she ran forward and tackled him to the floor, sending the White Pumpkin head flying off.</p><p>Jesse stared down at her ocelot hybrid friend, complete confusion racing through her head.</p><p>"Lukas?!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0107"><h2>107. False Accusations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lukas stared up at Jesse, a slightly dizzy look on his face. "Hey," he said, a little loopily but still pretty casually, as though he was just asking her if she wanted to go get a coffee or something strange like that.</p><p>Lukas got to his feet as Jesse crawled off of him, and went over to pick up the slashed White Pumpkin mask. "Give me a second... I'm trying to figure this one out myself." And he turned to face Jesse.</p><p>"What happened? I- you were chasing him," Jesse said, uncertainly, still panting from her hype-up on adrenaline and every muscle in her body insisting on attacking someone, "you were right behind him!"</p><p>"Yeah, I <em>was-</em> until, you know, he punched me in the neck and stuffed this white pumpkin on my head." And Lukas made a slight face at the white pumpkin in his hands.</p><p>Before anything else could be said, footsteps echoed, and Jesse turned to see Petra rush in. "What's going on in here?!" she exclaimed.</p><p>"No!" Ivor said, eyes widening at the sight of Lukas holding the white pumpkin head.</p><p>"You caught the White Pumpkin! Grab him! Quick!" Stampy gasped.</p><p>"On it!" Stacy said.</p><p>"Hey, no, he's not- he's not the White Pumpkin!" Jesse exclaimed, stepping in front of Lukas protectively.</p><p>"Get away from him, Jesse," Cassie said, coldly.</p><p>"Yeah, it's all out in the open, now," Stacy said, walking towards Lukas and Jesse.</p><p>Jesse took the White Pumpkin from Lukas's hands, looking at it. "Lukas isn't the White Pumpkin, though!" she repeated, more insistently this time. Because... because he couldn't be the White Pumpkin, not one of her oldest friends, not the ocelot hybrid who purred like a car engine whenever she petted him or the one who was so calm and quiet and never got upset about getting the short end of the stick all the time. "You don't have any proof that he is, besides the White Pumpkin head, and that doesn't exactly prove anything!" And she glared around at them. Admittedly, this situation looked bad, but Lukas was innocent!</p><p>He had to be.</p><p>"You don't have any concrete proof," Jesse repeated, hands tightening on the white pumpkin head in her hands.</p><p>"Well, you ARE all half monster..."</p><p>Jesse gaped at Cassie at that, her jaw hitting the floor as she stared at the red-haired girl in complete shock. She wondered if her lungs had vanished, because suddenly she couldn't breathe at all. And it was funny. A second ago her stomach had been filled with a storm of butterflies and snakes with worry for Lukas. Now she was fairly certain her stomach was gone.</p><p>"Racist much?" Ivor growled, glaring at the redhead with a gaze that made Jesse think that it was really lucky looks couldn't kill, and maybe she would've vocalized this if she wasn't still gasping for air and gaping at Cassie, who had a slightly apologetic look on her face at the insult.</p><p>"That's not fair to Jesse!" Dan said sharply, suddenly, drawing all of their attention to him.</p><p>Stampy nodded, putting his hands on his hips. "Yeah, Jesse saved our lives because she was half a googly! Don't be rude like that!" he exclaimed, defensively.</p><p>"Besides, Lukas is the one hybrid actually here that's not even a monster- he's an ocelot! Ocelots are peaceful!" Petra responded, snappishly.</p><p>"Lukas was at one of the buttons, though," Lizzie pointed out, "and these horrible things only started happening when YOUR group arrived..."</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms defensively. "Lukas was breaking through the library door. Petra, Ivor, Dan, and Stampy DID see him, just now, right before we ran up the stairs, and I'm pretty sure they saw the White Pumpkin running up the stairs too. So... care to explain how he was in two different places at the same damn time?" Jesse asked Cassie, her voice practically dripping with sarcasm.</p><p>Cassie scowled at Jesse. "But explain how he's holding the head? Anything he says, can be pretty suspicious after that."</p><p>Jesse opened her mouth, but for once had nothing- absolutely <em>nothing-</em> that she could say.</p><p>Because it was all too true.</p><p>Cassie smirked when Jesse couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer. "Exactly. I say that we throw him outside and let nature take it's course."</p><p>"Wait- <em>outside</em> outside?" Stacy asked, looking a little taken aback as Winslow gave his female owner a disapproving stare.</p><p>"Where all the googlies are?" Stampy asked, looking unsure.</p><p>Dan crossed his arms. "Look, we might all have our suspicions about Lukas, but Jesse saved me and Stampy."</p><p>Stampy nodded at that, looking at Jesse as she gave them both a relieved sort of smile. "It just wouldn't feel right to throw your friend to the googlies," he finished the thought for Dan.</p><p>"Thank you," Jesse said, feeling and sounding immensely relieved.</p><p>"Fine," Cassie said coldly.</p><p>Lukas deflated almost completely, tail flopping against the ground, ears flattening against his head as he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."</p><p>"Don't go celebrating yet," Cassie responded, as Winslow sent Lukas a sort of apologetic look, "we've still got to do something with you so you're not roaming around freely."</p><p>Lukas tensed, all of his hair standing up on end. "What? Like lock me up in a closet or something?" he asked, voice rising a full octave higher.</p><p>Jesse knew why- Lukas hated confinement. Any type of it. She remembered how sometimes the scientists would try to confine him in a room. Let me just say that by the end of the whole thing, Lukas needed to sharpen his claws again, and the scientists all got rather severely scratched.</p><p>"Why don't you just keep a watch on him?" Jesse suggested, "because I don't think you all want to go around with claw marks all over you. Lukas is a bit claustrophobic."</p><p>A small snort from Petra at that, even though she still looked very uneasy. "A bit? That's the understatement of the century."</p><p>"I guess that's fair," Cassie said, her expression softening a bit, "but I'm keeping guard first, because I don't trust him."</p><p>Jesse looked at Lukas, rather apologetically. "Are you okay with that, Lukas?"</p><p>Lukas smiled weakly at Jesse, although his eyes practically glowed gratefully. "I mean, it- it's not ideal, but if it makes everyone more comfortable..."</p><p>"It's fine, Jesse," and Ivor stepped forward, making the green-and-red eyed spider hybrid look at him, "I'll watch over Lukas. Come on, Cassie," and he started walking out of the room, Cassie following a little behind Lukas as they trotted out of the room.</p><p>"But don't go getting any funny ideas, Lukas," Ivor added, his dark blue eyes narrowing, "this isn't because I like you or anything."</p><p>Jesse could hear Lukas's amusement from across the room. "Nooo. Of course not."</p><p>"Quiet," Cassie said sternly, "prisoners aren't supposed to talk."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0108"><h2>108. More Secret Passageways! Yay?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Let's go see if we can find if the White Pumpkin has a lair- sort of like a home base, if you may," Jesse offered.</p><p>Petra nodded, before going to inspect the walls.</p><p>Jesse sat down in a chair, staring off into space but not really seeing anything except for things on the far walls. How had she ever gotten so wrapped up in this? How had she ever gotten wrapped up in this sick murder mystery?</p><p>Guess that's what comes from being an adventurer.</p><p>Jesse let out a soft sigh, staring at the huge White Pumpkin portrait on the opposite wall.</p><p>White Pumpkin... portrait...</p><p>Jesse's eyes scanned the paintings on the wall. The only one that was really in reach for walking in normally (and I don't mean as a spider hybrid, I mean just stroll in casually) was the huge White Pumpkin portrait. And it was long. Long and vertical.</p><p>All of the vertical paintings so far... had concealed a secret passageway...</p><p>Pushing herself off the couch, she strolled over to it, looking up at the face of the White Pumpkin. "I won't deny that this'll be fun," Jesse sighed, drawing her fist back, before driving it as violently through the painting as possible, smashing the painting into little splinters that fell all over the floor, making Stampy jump up as if he'd just been set on fire, Lizzie whirl around, Dan leap up, and Stacy whip to face Jesse, her face falling into an almost comical shocked expression as the huge painting vanished to reveal... a tunnel. A very big secret passageway.</p><p>"Huh, that WAS fun," Jesse said, smiling at the splintered remains of the White Pumpkin's portrait.</p><p>Petra whistled, putting her hands on her hips. "<em>Wow</em>. Another secret passageway, huh?"</p><p>Jesse crept in, looking around. Not too far ahead was a set of iron doors. Next to it were three picture frames- in it were a spiderweb, a poison-tipped arrow, and then a sand block.</p><p>Jesse's eyes narrowed, and three arms reached out and simultaneously took them all out of the picture frames at once, looking through the items as the others came up behind them. Reaching out, she put the tipped arrow in the first frame, the one closest to the door- making one of the three locks click.</p><p>"Strike one," Jesse hummed, before putting the sand block in the middle. The second lock click as it disengaged. "Strike two." And then the third lock disengaged as Jesse slipped the spiderweb into the last picture frame, making the door spring open. Had Jesse been standing any closer, the door and her face would've gotten a rather painful greeting. "Strike three, and you're out!"</p><p>"You are a dork," Petra said, faintly jokingly, although her eyes were filled with a concealed irritation that still came through in her voice. Jesse gave her Blaze hybrid friend a worried look, but Petra refused to meet her in the eyes.</p><p>Walking through the doors, Jesse was confronted by a rather large hole in the ground.</p><p>"Oh wow!" Stampy said, sounding impressed, "you got it open!"</p><p>"Yeah," Petra nodded, turning and putting her hands on her hips, "you guys should stay here- it could be dangerous."</p><p>"Nooo, I totally want to follow you into your friend's creepy secret passageways," Stacy said, sarcastically.</p><p>"Ugh- seriously?!" Petra said, sounding quite offended, "you really think LUKAS did it?!"</p><p>"You haven't proven he didn't yet," Stacy shot back.</p><p>Jesse put all her hands up in a surrendering motion. "Hey- cool it! We're all in this together, aren't we?" she asked, making her voice sound as placating as possible. Petra shot her a small grin.</p><p>Lizzie put her hands on her hips. "Depends- are you on the White Pumpk- I mean... 'Lukas' side, or ours?"</p><p>Petra's grin fell right off her face. "Ugh. You know what? They're not worth it. Come on." And she whirled around, walking to the edge of the hole and staring down into it, fuming. You could tell, because there was literally steam rising from her, and a couple flames were starting to flicker across her shoulders.</p><p>Jesse frowned at them apologetically. "I- sorry. It's late. We've gotten almost zero sleep. We're all pretty stressed out," she said, hoping they'd accept it.</p><p>Dan recognized the proffered olive branch. "Sure. C'mon guys, let's go wait in the living room." And he turned around and trotted back, the others following a little behind.</p><p>The moment they were out of earshot, Jesse went over and looked down into the whole, standing next to Petra. "That's deep. Guess it leads down to... whatever the White Pumpkin calls 'home.' Wonder how he gets down there-"</p><p>"<em>Maybe</em>," Petra snapped, "in addition to walking through walls, he can FLY for all we know. <em>Ugh!</em>"</p><p>And she whirled away, glaring at nothing in particular as Jesse blinked, a bit taken aback by the outburst. A moment passed, before Petra said, a bit more kindly than before, "It's just... I'm really worried about Lukas. Those people think they're all safe, but the White Pumpkin is still running around and he could strike again at any minute! Not to mention, those people out there have been so ungrateful, so petty-"</p><p>Jesse reached out and squeezed Petra's shoulder, cutting off her rant midsentence. "Hey, Petra, I understand. Okay? I'm with you." And she gave her friend a reassuring smile.</p><p>Petra deflated under Jesse's hands, and the steam stopped spitting off of her. Her armor also cooled from uncomfortably hot to rather warm. "You're right. I know you're right... phoof..." she let out a loud huffing sound. "Sorry, Jesse. I just really needed to get that off my chest."</p><p>She suddenly found her being hugged by the spider hybrid. "Uh- J-Jess-"</p><p>"You look like you needed a hug. So you're getting a hug."</p><p>"U-uh, thanks, Jesse," and Petra's gold eyes cooled even more, her arms going around her friend. "Thanks, Jesse," she repeated.</p><p>"No problem. Now," and Jesse released Petra, putting one hand on her hip, green-and-red eyes sparkling, "Race you down there."</p><p>Petra blinked. And then grinned. "Oh, you're ON."</p><p>Jesse dropped to all eights, crawled over the edge... and went right on going, rushing down as fast as possible. Petra hopped into empty space, hovering down as fast as possible.</p><p>The last ten feet, Jesse decided to take a risk and just dropped ten feet, landing on her feet expertly and with no damage whatsoever. "Done!" Jesse called.</p><p>"D- aw, man," Petra groaned, landing on her feet as Jesse chuckled at her friend slightly, in the dark, slightly creepy tunnel. Petra looked up at Jesse, a faint smile coming over her face. "Thanks. I needed that."</p><p>Jesse reached out and gave her friend's shoulder another squeeze. "You're most certainly welcome, Petra."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0109"><h2>109. Spider Jesse is Best Jesse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You think we're gonna find the White Pumpkin down here?" Petra wondered, as they started through the tunnel. "With all these... secret passageways..."</p><p>"I hope we do... and at the same time, I hope we don't," Jesse responded slowly. "But this time, if we DO find him, he's not just gonna walk away with a scar on his mask."</p><p>"Brutal," Petra said, giving her friend a wolfish grin (Jesse's stomach squeezed at the thought of her wolf hybrid twin), "I like it." And her gold eyes gleamed in the dark.</p><p>Moaning began to come to them as they came to another corner. "Hey, do you hear-"</p><p>Petra cut her off. "Lots and lots of zombies? Unfortunately." She gave a couple sniffs and made a soft sound in the back of her throat. "Starting to smell 'em, too."</p><p>Jesse made a face, weaving up a quick little handkerchief to cover her mouth and making Petra one, too. "Ugh. Ditto. Gross," she said, putting the handkerchief up to her face. At least it made most of the smell kind of... go away.</p><p>They slowly walked forward, towards some bars. Looking around, Jesse cautiously went forward-</p><p>And let out a shriek as she jumped back, a zombie slamming into the bars inches from her and banging on the bars as it tried to poke its hands out to grab Jesse.</p><p>Petra sighed. "Well, that explains all the zombie noises."</p><p>Jesse peered forward, looking at a small cage with what looked like a miniature zombie spinning inside, fire spitting off of it. "What the heck is THAT supposed to be?"</p><p>Her question was answered when yet another zombie exploded into existence. "Oh. I guess it's some sort of zombie spanwer."</p><p>"Wait, does that mean the White Pumpkin actually MADE the sea of zombies outside?!" Petra said, head whipping to see her.</p><p>Jesse made a face at the zombies, although it was mostly hidden by the handkerchief. "That's what it looks like."</p><p>Short silence for a moment. "Can I set them all on fire?"</p><p>Jesse choked a bit trying not to laugh at Petra's half-joking question. "Uh, haha, I wish. I'm not sure it's a good idea, though- if we do, the White Pumpkin might notice and try to block off his lair or something."</p><p>"Oh. Good point." And they kept on walking, a little ways past, into a room with a sort of glass tube rising up towards the ceiling from a pool of water. "What is THAT?" Petra asked, letting the handkerchief drop.</p><p>Jesse squinted at it, trying to remember where she'd seen something similar. And then she remembered. "Oh! I remember- this is like the item system thingy which Soren had in his mountain fortress."</p><p>Petra gave it an appraising look. "Oh yeah- I guess it is. But where does it go?"</p><p>"Hopefully straight to the White Pumpkin's lair," Jesse responded, looking up. Next to the glass tube, there was an open tunnel mouth. And there was light coming from it.</p><p>Jesse looked up at it, running a hand through her hair absentmindedly. "You see that light-filled tunnel too, right?"</p><p>"Huh?" Petra looked up, following Jesse's gaze, and an expression dawned on her face. "Oh yeah! And it doesn't look like it's blocked off like all the, um, zombie filled ones."</p><p>"I'm betting two iron that if we get up there, we can follow it and get straight to the White Pumpkin's lair," Jesse said beginning to appraise the wall next to her to see if she could climb up and then jump into the tunnel without much trouble.</p><p>"I'm not taking that bet."</p><p>Jesse snickered at that, and then started climbing. "Sometimes I wish I could fly," Jesse said rather wistfully as she watched Petra just hover upwards. Petra smirked and kept hovering. "Well, you've got a pretty good Spider-Jesse thing going on. Spider Jesse, Spider Jesse, does whatever spiders can because she's Spider Jesse," she hummed, aimlessly.</p><p>Jesse gave Petra a look, and Petra shrugged with a smirk. "What?"</p><p>"And you call me a dork," Jesse teased, the both of them getting into the tunnel with no trouble. There was a spider approaching them in the tunnel, but Jesse just waved it off and asked it to please not attack them, and the spider went on it's merry way.</p><p>"I like it when you're here and there's spiders- I really do," Petra said, rather jokingly.</p><p>Jesse put both of her hands over her heart, jokingly wiping away a tear. "Thank you, thank you- that means a lot to me," she joked back, and the two girls dissolved into snickers and giggles. It was almost like when they'd jumped off the bridge to escape all those mobs, back that night at Endercon.</p><p>It felt like so long ago already.</p><p>Continuing into the tunnel, they turned a corner and kept walking down the tunnel, until they reached a spot where it looked like they'd be turning another corner. Jesse frowned, slowing her footsteps. Yes, she wasn't just imagining it. "Hey, doesn't that almost sound like..."</p><p>Petra tilted her head, listening, and a bewildered look crossed her face. "... cats?" she finished the thought.</p><p>Jesse slowly moved forward, poking her head around the corner- to come face to face with the White Pumpkin. "<em>GAH!</em>" Jesse shrieked, jumping back and kicking furiously, knocking the White Pumpkin over. It turned out to be another armor stand.</p><p>Petra shivered a bit. "Holy crap, was not expecting that. Good reflexes, by the way- Jesse?" Petra looked around and found Jesse literally crouching on the ceiling. "How in the name of Notch did you get up there in five seconds?"</p><p>Jesse looked down at Petra, who was upside down. Then back up at the ceiling. Then back down at Petra. "I'm going to be honest with you, I have no clue."</p><p>Coming back down, Jesse kept creeping forward, to see a station which was growing white pumpkins. "It's just some sort of... growing station. Weird," Petra said, as another white pumpkin sprouted.</p><p>Jesse poked it. "Huh, I guess white pumpkins do exist," she said jokingly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0110"><h2>110. The White Pumpkin's Lair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse stopped to look at a White Pumpkin, before they heard footsteps.</p><p>Both girls drew their swords, Jesse whispering, "The White Pumpkin must've heard us!" Petra's flared to life, flames flickering along the blade, and her eyes started heating up as Jesse's lower arm whipped out an axe. Once again, it felt better... more normal, almost.</p><p>"GAH!" And Stampy jumped back, tripped and fell right on his butt with a little 'oof'.</p><p>"Stampy Cat?!" Petra said, mouth falling open.</p><p>"Boy, you gave me a fright!" Stampy said, shivering a bit as he climbed back to his feet, "what are you doing down here?!"</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Well, you did see us go through the doors to go have a look at the 'secret lair', so... yeah, that's what we're doing," she said, cautiously, "what are YOU doing down here?"</p><p>Stampy stamped his feet anxiously, sidling between the two girls, careful to avoid the swords. "I needed to find you, because I have something important to tell you!"</p><p>Jesse and Petra shared a look, unsurely, Jesse slowly putting her axe and sword away as Stampy said, rubbing his arm uncomfortably, "I have something to confess. Something I haven't told ANYONE."</p><p>"Where is this going?" Petra asked, slowly.</p><p>Stampy hesitated, reached back into his pocket... and pulled out a glowing flint and steel. Only, this one was green, rather than the azure Jesse's was.</p><p>Jesse's mouth fell open into a perfect 'o' as Stampy said, shuffling his feet nervously, "Nnnn I stole it from Dan, and it was just supposed to be a joke, a harmless prank, but then, well, you've seen what happened! I knew people wanted it, but I had no idea that, that, that <em>this</em> would happen!"</p><p>"I... did not see that coming," Jesse said, blinking. "I <em>did not</em> see that coming."</p><p>"I may be a thief," Stampy continued babbling, "but I'm no killer! But that White Pumpkin IS, and he's killing people for it, and now we're all down in his lair!" He shuffled his feet again, rather guiltily. "I was thinking... maybe I should just give it to the White Pumpkin."</p><p>"Well, who do you think Dan would want to give it to?" Jesse asked, calmly.</p><p>"How are you staying so calm right now?!" Petra whispered, her fingers twitching nervously as she fidgeted.</p><p>"I have no idea," Jesse responded, in that same calm voice.</p><p>"Well- I suppose- he'd want it back," Stampy said, hesitating a moment, "it IS his, after all, he got it fair and square..."</p><p>Jesse shrugged and clapped her hands together. "Well, then that's settled, then," she said, cheerfully enough.</p><p>Stampy's shoulders relaxed, as he slipped the flint and steel back into his pocket. "Well- yeah, I guess. Thanks, Jesse."</p><p>And the three of them continued forward, until they reached a set of iron doors with a lever next to it. "That looks like a 'lair door' if I ever saw one," Petra said, pointing at it dramatically.</p><p>Jesse shrugged, reached out, and flipped the switch downwards, and whipped out her sword as the door flung itself open- just in case, you know.</p><p>"Before we go in there," Stampy said, Petra continuing past but Jesse pausing and turning back to look over her shoulder, "I wanted to thank you..."</p><p>Jesse blinked and turned back a bit, looking at Stampy. "What for?"</p><p>"For saving me and Dan... I mean, you don't know us, you didn't have to..."</p><p>Jesse's expression had softened at that. "No problem," she said, and they all ventured forward into a huge cavern. Bookshelves lined the rough walls, as well as a painting, and there were some chests, and what looked like a brewing stand, and a bit of a miniature lake.</p><p>Oh, and cats. Lots and lots and LOTS of calico cats.</p><p>"Oh, wow," Jesse said, blinking.</p><p>Petra looked around, making a face. "Very... creepy."</p><p>"I would NOT put this in my top ten places I've ever been," Stampy added. Jesse had to laugh a bit at that, looking around, as Petra put her hands on her hips and looked at the cats. "Well, there's where the meowing's coming from."</p><p>"We'll get outta here as soon as we find something that proves the White Pumpkin's identity," Jesse said, continuing to poke around a bit, before going to look at the painting. She'd barely looked at it for a minute before her eyes widened and she stepped back. "Uh, Petra, did you see this?"</p><p>"That's the portal hallway!" Petra exclaimed, eyes widening.</p><p>"Yeah, looks like the White Pumpkin's been there too."</p><p>Jesse tried to do her best to ignore the 'chests of the dead' sign on the wall and the chests- at least there were only two, right? She approached the pool of water-</p><p>A small splash in the lake. Jesse reacted and shot a web at it, reeling it in to reveal... a fish.</p><p>Jesse looked at the fish, before putting it in her inventory- hey, she'd caught it, she might as well- and went looking around, poking around the bookshelves a bit. "Let's see here... wow, they're all about portals," she said, putting a hand on her hip, "pretty obsessive." Continuing down the shelf, she spotted another book, and squinted at it. "'Walking With the Endermen,' by... Soren?! How in the world did the White Pumpkin get that?" she said, more than a little put out at this point.</p><p>Walking over to a chest with a calico cat lying on it lazily, Jesse frowned. "Hm, this might be important," she hummed mildly, before poking at the calico cat sitting on it. "Um, hello, kitty, kitty, could you scoot out of the way please?"</p><p>The cat just ignored her.</p><p>"Wow, I wish Lukas was here," Jesse sighed. He would've loved talking to the cats. Not to mention that lake filled with very edible fish for him. Actually, maybe she should catch one for him...</p><p>"Oh! Hey, sweet, Ender Pearls!" Petra exclaimed, rifling through a smaller chest nearby and startling Jesse out of her thoughts, "look!"</p><p>Jesse looked, and sure enough there were about ten of them in Petra's hands. "Toss me a couple?" Jesse called, putting her hands up.</p><p>Petra lobbed five of them to Jesse, who turned away from the chest she'd been looking at it and snatched all five out of the air pretty easily, all of them landing in her palm without bursting.</p><p>"Nice," Stampy commented.</p><p>Jesse bowed, five of her hands stowing the Ender Pearls away. "Thank you, thank you," she said dramatically, making both of them laugh a bit.</p><p>Jesse turned back to the chest, backed away a few steps, and pulled out the fish she'd inadvertently caught earlier. "Here kitty kitty," she called, coaxingly, making the cat's head actually lift off the chest. Progress! "Here kitty. Get the fishy."</p><p>The cat came down from the chest and came towards the fish, lazily. "There ya go," Jesse said coaxingly.</p><p>Suddenly, a chorus of meowing started, and Jesse looked up to see... instead of the two cats from earlier, TWELVE. And all of them were calico cats! They all jumped down from their little shelf and ran towards the fish. "Ah! Cats! So many cats!" Jesse yelped, jumping backwards to avoid stomping on the sudden flood of cats on the floor.</p><p>"Ugh. Besides Lukas, cats give me the creeps. No offense Stampy," Petra added to Stampy.</p><p>Jesse had to think about that. Whenever one of the scientists's partners brought in their cat... funny, Jesse could barely remember that partner. Just that she'd had lots of red hair. Oh, and calico cats. Just like these. Weird. Anyway, when she'd brought the cat in, Petra would sit behind Lukas and not come out until the cat went away for a bit. She smirked a bit at the memory.</p><p>"None taken." And Stampy cupped a hand around his mouth. "I'm not really a cat," he whispered.</p><p>Jesse opened the chest and began to move her hands through them. "It's full of... oh wow," and Jesse stood up, holding a portrait in her hand, before putting it up on the wall. And there was Petra, on the wall.</p><p>With a huge, red X drawn through her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0111"><h2>111. The Culprit is YOU!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Oh I don't like that," Petra said, shuddering a little. "I <em>really </em>don't like that. Guess he already had all the X'ed out ones ready to go."</p><p>"Yep," Jesse sighed, turning back to the chest and poking through the portraits some more. "Besides Petra, we've got Lizzie, Dan, Stampy, Lukas, Ivor, and, hey, there's me..." Jesse blinked a bit at that.</p><p>"But what does it all mean?" Petra mused, tapping her lip curiously. "The cats... the crossed out portraits..."</p><p>Jesse looked at the cats, then at the portraits, and then her eyes lit up as the cogs in her head started turning and turning and turning. "Yeah, the <em>portraits</em>. There was one person who didn't have a crossed out portrait. Someone who's a known cat person..." Jesse looked at the chest, and then back at the others, eyes practically glowing. "I think the White Pumpkin..." and Jesse grinned, "is Cassie Rose!"</p><p>Stampy's mouth fell open in shock at that, and Petra looked at the cats. "Oh. Oh yeah!" and her eyes lit up as well. Literally, her eyes started glowing as her brain worked it out as well, before her head snapped to face Jesse, eyes sparkling with interest. "We HAVE to go back and tell the others!"</p><p>Jesse gave Petra a grin, her red eye glowing in the darkness. "Time to close up this murder mystery once and for all," she said, crossing all of her arms.</p><hr/><p>"I'll go round everyone up!" Stampy exclaimed as they came back out through the tunnel, and then bolted out of the room. Presumably to go track down Cassie and the others.</p><p>"What's going on?" Stacy asked, Lizzie and Dan both looking rather intrigued as Jesse said, in a bit of a rush, "We know who the White Pumpkin is!"</p><p>"Really? Who?"</p><p>"Yes, what's up?" Cassie asked, trotting in.</p><p>Jesse gave the red-haired girl a long, even look. Cassie returned the stare evenly.</p><p>Jesse didn't know why... but Cassie seemed familiar. Not- <em>familiar</em> familiar... but, familiar...</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"Auntie, are these the hybrids you've been telling us about?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes dear."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse sat up, wincing as the scientist partner- the one with beautifully red hair and grayish eyes came in, the door open and letting lots of light pour in.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Except behind her was a little girl, who looked as though she was about Jesse's age. Both of the Jesses. The little girl could've been the scientist's younger doppelganger, with the same bright red hair, but green eyes that sparkled like emeralds in her pale face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse tilted her head curiously at the little girl as the scientist partner continued, "This is Jesse. Although, don't tell anyone- Jesse's just their birth name. I'm not supposed to use it, but they respond to it, so I don't see the harm."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The little girl came closer to Jesse, who stared at her unabashedly, her own green eyes practically unblinking as she stared. It was strange to see someone as small as her without extra limbs or furry ears. "What's your name?" she tried to say, except what came out was a sort of hiss that made her chest thrum in a funny way. Oh yeah...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The girl shrank back. "Auntie, she hissed at me!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"The DNA is still trying to get used to its new body- Jesse's going to be speaking in Spider for a very long while after this," the scientist partner said, rather calmly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Aunt Cassie, do you think she'd play with me if I asked?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The scientist partner shrugged, a faintly amused look on her face. "I don't know, dear. But we should get back to the others- they're probably missing us right now."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I don't like Mr. ... Mister... uh, Mister Purple Suit." Jesse giggled a bit at the funny nickname, and the little girl looked pleased that she'd made Jesse laugh. "He just keeps calling us the Cassies."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Aunt Cassie' seemed to be trying to stifle her giggles now, gray eyes sparkling with mirth. "Ah, he does that to everyone. He's probably going to be calling you Rosebud if I let him find out your last name. So it's a secret, okay?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The little girl nodded vigorously, eyes round and pretty. "Okay Auntie!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Now say bye to Jesse."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Bye Jesse!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And even though the little girl didn't look back at Jesse once, Jesse waved until the door shut again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse jolted up, blinking sleepily. "Jess? Wuzzgoinon?" he asked, rather fuzzily.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse turned to look at her brother, blinking a bit at the little sleepy wolf hybrid, whose ears were all fluffy and whose hair was sticking up every which way. "Ah, nothing. Go back to sleep." Her voice came out more like a hiss, but with a great effort Jesse managed to speak English.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse squinted at her, before plopping back down onto the pile of blankets, snuggling into her as if she were a personal heater or something. "'Kay."</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse shivered violently, chills shooting up her spine, as she looked up and mentally compared the little girl and the one wearing glasses in front of her. The murderer.</p><p>Well, if they weren't the same person, they sure looked it. Cassie Rose's hair was the same shade. Her eyes were the same shade. Heck, if you compared the facial structure, it was scarily similar.</p><p>"Couldn't find Cassie, but- oh!" And Stampy, accompanied by Ivor and Lukas, jumped back a bit, looking startled.</p><p>"So, what's going on?" Cassie repeated, green eyes harder than diamond.</p><p>"I have reason to believe I know who the White Pumpkin is," Jesse said, deceptively calmly.</p><p>Lukas's eyes widened, and he straightened up. "Y-you do?!" he sounded excited about it. Maybe even a little happy.</p><p>Jesse glanced at Lukas, and sent him a little nod as Winslow sat on the floor, giving his owner a funny look.</p><p>"So? Who is it?" Stacy asked, looking rather curious now.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath, and lowered her arms, except for her uppermost pair- one of which touched her chin. "The White Pumpkin..."</p><p>And then she raised her right arm, drew it back, and levelled her finger in a dead point right at the red-haired, cat loving culprit. "Is Cassie Rose!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0112"><h2>112. Proof and Plot Twists</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"What?!" Cassie immediately protested, "no I'm not! Look at the facts! We caught Lukas with that White Pumpkin head RIGHT after Dan and Stampy almost got murdered!"</p><p>"I think you're just lying to protect him!" Cassie said, accusingly.</p><p>Lizzie looked at Jesse, a bit apologetically. "Cassie's making a lot of sense, Jesse... do you have any evidence to back you up?"</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath, and crossed all of her arms, beginning to walk across the floor, pacing back and forth. "Something's been bothering me for a while now. Something that happened in the Great Hall right after TorqueDawg got hit with that trap."</p><p>"What's that?" Cassie asked, snappishly.</p><p>Jesse was pretty sure Cassie didn't remember her. Not only from the fact that Cassie hadn't recognized her at all... but the fact that the last time they'd met, they'd been three. The only reason Jesse could remember it was because it had been suppressed, meaning that her long term memory had shoved it into a back shelf for storage and hadn't let it go.</p><p>"Cassie Rose was already in the room. No one else there. And TorqueDawg's picture..." Jesse looked at Cassie, right in the eyes, "was somehow <em>crossed out.</em>"</p><p>"Oh yeah, Jesse's right!" Lizzie realized, eyes widening.</p><p>Cassie blinked, before frowning. "That doesn't prove anything! Lukas is still WAY guiltier looking!"</p><p>"How about this, then?" Jesse fired back, "when we were down in the basement, we found some rather interesting items. Items for the White Pumpkin's evening... festivities. And there was one rather important detail. The White Pumpkin had portraits- all ready to go, pre X'ed out, one for all of us... except for Cassie."</p><p>Stacy gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth.</p><p>"Ooh. That's good," Ivor said, sending a proud smile in Jesse's direction that made Jesse beam back. Lukas was also grinning at his friend gratefully.</p><p>"You're doing great, Jesse," Petra said, sending Jesse an almost literally beaming grin, "now go in for the kill. Metaphorically."</p><p>Jesse looked at Cassie, whose composure was starting to waver. "But it was the last piece of the puzzle that helped me figure out who we were really dealing with here. <em>Cats</em>. Dozens of calico cats. And they all looked just. Like. Winslow."</p><p>Cassie sidled in front of the cat, scoffing slightly. "An amusing story, Jesse. But if you saw all these supposed cats 'just like Winslow'... then what color IS he? Shouldn't be a problem if you saw as many as you claimed."</p><p>Jesse met Cassie's gaze, her red eye beginning to glow. "Winslow is black, white, and orange," she stated, calmly.</p><p>Cassie stepped aside... to reveal that Winslow was indeed, black, white and orange.</p><p>"Cassie, is... this all true?" Stacy asked, uncomfortably.</p><p>"This whole scheme has been about getting a portal key, hasn't it?" Jesse asked, her eyes going rock-hard, "killing whoever gets in your way!"</p><p>Cassie's eyes were wide, but then they went plain. She straightened up. And slowly started applauding. "How very clever, Jesse." She stopped, and turned away, walking away slowly. "Well. I guess that's it then. You caught me. I am. The White Pumpkin."</p><p>And a blast of thunder and lighting lit up the room.</p><p>"I just don't believe this!" Stacy exclaimed.</p><p>"I know. I was shocked too."</p><p>"I'm relieved... but also surprised," Lukas said, his ears twitching as he glanced at Winslow. Winslow blinked at Lukas calmly.</p><p>Jesse frowned, one eyebrow raising. "But what did we ever do to you?" she mused.</p><p>"Directly?" Cassie turned, walking towards Jesse. "Nothing. But you idiots had the one thing that I most desperately needed. I've been stuck in this <em>stupid</em> world with its <em>stupid</em> two moons for YEARS. Trapped, with a portal RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE but no key to open it! That is, until I finally heard that this world's portal key had been found."</p><p>And Jesse found it hard to equate the beaming little girl who'd been pleased when Jesse laughed with this hard-eyed, murderous girl who'd stopped at nothing to get what she needed.</p><p>"I knew it was one of you. So I tried my best to earn your friendship. Figure out who had it," Cassie said calmly, looking them all in the eye.</p><p>Jesse frowned a bit again, thinking slowly. "... why didn't your aunt come try to get you?" she asked, slowly.</p><p>Cassie jerked a bit. Her expression filled with shock, her eyes widened. "How did you know-" she stammered out, before her eyes narrowed again, and she tapped her head, looking at Jesse intently. "Hang on- hang on, hang on, hang on. You're- you're the spider hybrid, weren't you? It's the same name. Just, different hair..."</p><p>"You know her?"</p><p>Jesse thought about it for a second, processing both questions before doing a sarcastic little bow towards Cassie. "<em>Yep. I'm surprised you remember</em>," she spoke, her chest beginning to vibrate as she hissed, before reverting to English and saying calmly, "Barely. I think I knew her aunt more, but I'm not exactly sure. This was when I was three, so... yeah, I think so."</p><p>Cassie's eyes narrowed again, and she stepped back a bit.</p><p>"Well, we have to do SOMETHING with you, Cassie Rose," Stacy said, practically spitting out the girl's name as if it were a nasty tasting drink.</p><p>"I vote that we build an obsidian prison, and surround it with lava!" Stampy declared, putting his hands on his hips.</p><p>"No no no no no!" Cassie cut in, beginning to shiver as she stepped back, eyes widening, "I won't let you do that, I can't, no, no <em>no</em>-"</p><p>"Cassie!"</p><p>Cassie looked over at Jesse at her sharp exclamation. So did everyone else.</p><p>"Calm down. We didn't say we're going to do that yet. <em>Calm down</em>," Jesse ordered, her voice more insistent at the end.</p><p>"Well what are we going to do with her?!" Stacy snapped, throwing her hands in the air as everyone glared at the red-haired girl, who was still shaking but had stopped backing up, and was staring at Jesse with a funny look on her face.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms and levelled a rather even glare at Cassie Rose. "Let me handle her," she said, her voice steely calm.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0113"><h2>113. Choices</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse stared at Cassie, who stared back. Honestly, the silence was getting awkward.</p><p>Lukas was conversing fluently with Winslow, his brow getting more and more furrowed by the minute. Petra had gone off somewhere- probably smashing up something. Or maybe going back to the basement to set all the zombies on fire. Anything to get her anger out. Ivor was probably poking around the basement as well, and who knows what Stampy, Dan, Lizzie and Stacy were even doing right now.</p><p>"So," Cassie said.</p><p>Jesse raised an eyebrow rather casually. She didn't even bother uncurling herself from where she was perched on her chair. "So what?"</p><p>"So why am I here? Is this to decide my punishment?" Cassie asked, sounding and looking more and more irritated by the minute. "Come on, you asked the others to not stay in the same room. What? We gonna have a therapy session or something?"</p><p>Jesse just chuckled faintly at that. "No, not unless you just want me to pet you or hug you all day. I don't think I'd make a very good therapist," she said, rather cheerfully.</p><p>Cassie's face softened into a smile- just for a second- before her guard came right back up.</p><p>"So anywho," and Jesse leaned forward in her chair, "You didn't answer my earlier question."</p><p>Cassie blinked. "Which would that be?"</p><p>"Why didn't your aunt come get you? If you were stuck here, surely she'd have a portal key?"</p><p>Cassie looked away, a blank sort of look on her face. "She died."</p><p>Now it was Jesse's turn to blink.</p><p>Well. She hadn't been expecting that.</p><p>"She wasn't exactly the healthiest person," Cassie continued, staring at one of the corners of the room as if it were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen, "and, well..." she made a vague sound in the back of her throat. It was obvious from the blank look that she was giving the whole room she was rather uncomfortable with the topic.</p><p>"Ah." A short silence. "Sorry to hear that. I think I liked your aunt. She gave us crackers," Jesse said, thoughtfully.</p><p>Cassie smirked a little at that, although the small smile didn't reach her eyes. They were still blanker than a sheet of paper. "She did always have crackers in her pockets... I'm sure she would've liked to hear that. You liked her, I mean."</p><p>"Mmm." Another silence. Jesse sighed again and looked at the floor, her lower arms all fidgeting. "Okay, look, everyone here is expecting you to suffer <em>some</em> form of punishment," she said, rather bluntly. Cassie winced slightly, looking back to the floor, and Jesse continued, calmly, "And frankly, I agree. You can't just get away with murder. So, I have two options for you."</p><p>"One, you can stay here, but you can't leave this world. Ever. You can't leave the house either. You literally have to just sit in the house all day with your cats. Basically house arrest. But you'd be free to do whatever you want within the house, of course."</p><p>Cassie's body started to tense up, and she looked at Jesse again, looking up from the floor. "What's the second options?" she asked, her voice sounding tight and fearful.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath and continued, giving Cassie that even look, "The other option... is that you come with us."</p><p>Cassie blinked at Jesse in confusion.</p><p>"Ivor, Petra, Lukas and me. You come with us." Jesse gestured at herself and Lukas, the only two actually in the room with them.</p><p>Lukas glanced up when he heard his name, and he called out, absently, "Petra and Ivor aren't exactly stoked about the idea."</p><p>"How is that a punishment?" Cassie asked blankly, "I mean- I've been WANTING to get out. How is you taking me with you a punishment?"</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow. "Well, for one, you'd have Petra and Ivor reminding you about it every hour of the day. You wouldn't be able to go anywhere WITHOUT us, so we'd be kind of like security cameras or something. Not to mention, things out there... well, our lives are not exactly a cakewalk. I'm not exactly excited about this idea either, but... Lukas and Winslow get along pretty darn well," ticking them off on her fingers and shifting uncomfortably as she glanced at Lukas, who was chatting with Winslow now, rather animatedly.</p><p>"You'd take me with you?" Cassie stared with a blank expression. Jesse could see the faint spark of hope in her eyes, though.</p><p>Jesse sighed and rubbed her eyebrow. "I mean... sure? I don't trust you... but... I guess people deserve a second chance?" She shrugged, giving Cassie a sort of helpless look. "I don't know..."</p><p>Cassie stared, hope actually beginning to come into her expression. Once again, Jesse was reminded of that little girl with red hair who'd been happy when Jesse'd laughed and who'd looked almost exactly like a carbon copy of her auntie. "You'd take me with you?" she repeated.</p><p>Jesse shrugged again. "I mean... Petra and Ivor are willing... they're not happy about the fact I'm even willing to <em>suggest</em> it, but... they're- they're willing to. And Lukas could go either way."</p><p>She looked up, crossing all of her arms. "So how about it? Which option are you gonna go with?"</p><p>Cassie hesitated, before saying the answer Jesse had been pretty sure she'd take.</p><p>"I'll come with you."</p><p>Jesse gave her a rather wolfish grin, Lukas grinning as Lukas meowed cheerfully. "Well, that's settled then. And you'd better do everything you can to make up for what you've done, otherwise I cannot guarantee your safety if Petra and you are in the same room. I'll go inform the others." Jesse cheerfully hopped to her feet and trotted out of the room.</p><p>Cassie blinked after Jesse, before glancing at Lukas. "I'm starting to worry that my decision was not the best one," she said rather slowly. "Why's that?"</p><p>Lukas thought about that for a moment. "Good instincts?"</p><p>That did not make Cassie feel much better.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0114"><h2>114. Goodbye for Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"WHAT?!"</p><p>Jesse just absentmindedly rubbed her ears as everyone shouted simultaneously at her. When every other day someone or other is blowing something up in your house, people shouting really doesn't seem like that big of a deal.</p><p>"You're- you're <em>taking</em> her with you?!" Dan exclaimed, goggling at Jesse in disbelief.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "It's more of a punishment than anything- Petra and Ivor aren't exactly stoked about the idea."</p><p>"No. No, we really aren't," Petra said, her gold eyes glowing with anger (Ivor scooted away from her slightly).</p><p>Jesse shrugged again. "Well, taking her with us at least means we can keep an eye on her, right? Who knows, maybe she'll turn out to be okay."</p><p>"Just okay?" Ivor said, drily.</p><p>"I'm just settin' the bar low so we don't get our expectations up too high," Jesse responded drily, making some laughter come out through the room.</p><p>Jesse looked at the light steadily coming into the room. "Hey, look, it's morning."</p><p>They watched as several zombies lurched around outside, exploding into dust as they meandered around, continually on fire.</p><p>"That- that's it, then," Stampy said, in some astonishment.</p><p>"Yeah, we're free!" Stacy cheered.</p><p>Cassie came into the room, trailing behind Lukas a bit, as Ivor said, sounding rather relieved, "and we're alive. Let's not waste it standing around- there could be traps everywhere!"</p><p>And with that, everyone turned around- shooting Cassie Rose death glares on the way out- and walked out of the room, towards the front doors. Jesse followed mildly, hands in her pockets as Winslow perched on his owner's shoulder, conversing fluently with Lukas the whole way.</p><p>"Ahh," Ivor sighed happily, "I've never been so happy to smell rotting flesh!"</p><p>Lukas made a slight face. Jesse silently pulled out her handkerchief and handed it over to him, which he snatched and pressed to his face. "Speak for yourself..." he said, sounding rather nasal.</p><p>Winslow made a sound that really could've been interpreted as a snigger, if cats could truly snigger.</p><p>"Uh, yeah, that's... yikes, that's pretty gross," Jesse said, pinching her own nose a little bit.</p><p>"I feel bad that Sparklez isn't here to smell it," Lizzie said, rather sadly. "... and TorqueDawg, I guess."</p><p>Cassie rubbed her arm self-consciously.</p><p>"I'm sorry we couldn't save everyone. We tried our hardest..." Jesse said, frowning slightly.</p><p>"Oh, we all know that, Jesse-" Stampy said hastily, "it's not your fault."</p><p>Dan nodded, putting his hands on his hips. "Lucky for us, that portal brought you here."</p><p>"Speaking of which... I don't think any of us have any idea how to begin finding our exit portal," Ivor said, with a rather flat expression.</p><p>Cassie coughed a bit, making everyone look at the redhead. "I- um- I know where it is," she said, in a small voice. "But we either have to go back in the house to use it, or-"</p><p>"Yeahh, no, we're not going back inside," Stacy said, a little brusquely.</p><p>"Okay, then," Cassie said, rather meekly. "Well, then the way to get to it is over there," and she pointed at a gold portal shape nearby.</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Why did you build a second portal?"</p><p>"Long story."</p><p>"Ah."</p><p>"So... I guess this is goodbye, huh?" Stacy asked, looking at Jesse and the hybrids appraisingly.</p><p>Lukas rubbed his head, as all of them turned to face the four others, Cassie pretty much hiding in the back. "Yeah. Just let us know if you ever accidentally find yourselves in OUR world, haha."</p><p>"I mean, that's a nice offer and all," Dan said, giving Lizzie a look. The pink-haired girl picked up, "but I don't think we'll be portal hopping without a portal KEY."</p><p>Jesse gave Stampy a look, as he began to anxiously tap at his lip. "I think Stampy's gotcha covered there."</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>Stampy fidgeted a moment longer, before he pulled out the glowing green flint and steel.</p><p>Dan and Lizzie looked as though they'd become creeper hybrids that were about to blow up, they looked so angry. "You had it the whole time?!" Dan exclaimed, eyes widening as Lizzie spluttered angrily.</p><p>"It was just meant to be a prank, a harmless prank, and I am so sorry, so very very sorry!" Stampy apologized.</p><p>"Yeah, c'mon, it's Stampy! You know he wouldn't actually ever try to hurt anyone," Stacy contributed.</p><p>"Aw, c'mon, lay off Stampy, like he said it was just a prank," Jesse said, mildly.</p><p>"A prank that went pretty badly, if you ask me," Lizzie said, giving Stampy a rather annoyed look.</p><p>Lizzie let out a little sigh, putting one hand on her hip. "After all this drama, I might be done with flints and steels and portals anyway..."</p><p>"Well, like we said," Petra said, lightly, "if you ever change your mind, you'll be plenty welcome in our world."</p><p>"You can share it!" Jesse offered, "make like, your own Order of the Stone!"</p><p>Dan nodded, a small smile coming over his still rather annoyed face. "Noted."</p><p>"Yeah, that's a wonderful idea!" Stampy agreed, rather eagerly.</p><p>Stacy cleared her throat, making all of them look at her. "Welll, I'm not great at goodbyes, so I'm actually just gonna start walking home. Thanks for everything!" And she turned with a wave.</p><p>"Me too," Lizzie said, giving the group a nod, "Bye, you guys."</p><p>"Yeah, me too," Dan said, starting to walk after Lizzie, "travel safe, you guys!"</p><p>Stampy put the flint and steel in his pocket, waved at them, said a cheery, "Byeeeeeee!" and went running after his friends.</p><p>"What a strange, strange bunch of individuals," Ivor said, sounding rather fond, before glancing at Cassie. "You were talking about being trapped here, from another world... were you related to the Old Builders?"</p><p>Cassie made a face. "Ah, my aunt hated it when they called her friends that."</p><p>"You have an aunt?" Petra asked, blinking.</p><p>"She passed away, Cassie's uncomfortable with it, let's not discuss it," Jesse said, rather flatly. Petra rubbed her head and sent Cassie a look that none of them could decipher. "Ah. I see. Sorry, Cassie," she added, after a second.</p><p>"'S fine," Cassie mumbled, looking away sheepishly.</p><p>They stopped in front of the other portal that Cassie had pointed out earlier. "You have to use the flint and steel here... and then you should probably brace yourself."</p><p>Jesse raised an eyebrow. "... okay?" Leaning down, she struck the flint and steel near the ground, making a pillar of hot blue fire shoot into the air as she put the portal key away.</p><p>Nothing happened.</p><p>Cassie frowned a bit as the fire died down. "That's... weird... it should've-"</p><p>The ground beneath them gave out suddenly, all of them letting out yells of alarm (Cassie wincing as Winslow sank his claws into her arm) as they plummeted downwards into darkness.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0115"><h2>115. Leaving</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All of them slammed onto something hard, Jesse's knees buckling and making her slam into the ground with a gasp, someone else colliding heavily on top of her a moment later.</p><p>"Ow!"</p><p>"That's my foot!"</p><p>"I can't see a thing!"</p><p>"Hang on, the redstone sensors should pick us up-"</p><p>A dim light shone down on them, barely illuminating the obsidian level they were on as they all scrambled to their feet, the lights going on higher and higher above them.</p><p>"About now," Cassie finished.</p><p>"Well... that's ominous," Lukas said, blinking at the lighting.</p><p>"Do you hear that?" Ivor's voice was a bit hushed as the sound of squeaking could be heard.</p><p>Jesse leaned over the edge, looking into a dark pit- which was suddenly lit up, to reveal that it was crawling with... Endermites.</p><p>"Endermites!" Jesse yelped, hopping back a step in shock.</p><p>Cassie pulled a couple of Ender Pearls out of her pocket. "Um... I didn't actually have time to grab many, so I only have two," she said, rather apologetically and somewhat meekly.</p><p>Jesse looked at the pair of Ender Pearls in her hands, before shrugging. "Good thing that's all we need. Give one to Ivor and I think we'll be good."</p><p>Ivor took the Ender Pearl Cassie offered him after a moments' hesitation, both of them chucking their Ender Pearls up as high as they could. They blinked out of sight a moment later, reappearing on a ledge quite a ways up, Winslow purring from where he was entangled with his owner.</p><p>Lukas looked at Jesse, who was on all eights. She looked up at him. "Well? Get on then," she said, lightly. Lukas slowly climbed on, Jesse waiting until he locked into place. Lukas blinked at the black-haired spider hybrid. "This... is surprisingly comfortable."</p><p>"Glad to hear it," Jesse responded, before starting up the wall, Lukas holding onto her shoulders tightly but relaxing his grip when he realized he didn't seem to be falling. "Uh, wow," he said, twisting to look at the Endermites below, "<em>please</em> don't fall."</p><p>"I wasn't planning on it," the spider hybrid teased back.</p><p>Cassie was climbing up using the impromptu staircase along the walls, Ivor following her with a rather reluctant look on his face. "You alright there, Jesse?" he asked, Petra hovering with them and looking down at Jesse.</p><p>"Yep! This is surprisingly easy," Jesse said cheerfully, before tensing all of her muscles and leaping forward. Lukas let out a rather high-pitched shriek and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her neck in fear. "Oh, you're locked on, you'll be fine," Jesse said lightly, making Lukas loosen his grip slightly, still shaking as he clung to her.</p><p>Ivor scowled a bit for some reason.</p><p>"Petra, don't you have those five Ender Pearls in your inventory?" Jesse asked, pausing where she'd gotten on the wall (which was pretty darn high, and which Jesse was NOT planning on looking back down) to fish one out of her own inventory.</p><p>"Yeah," Petra patted her pockets before withdrawing a couple. "Why?"</p><p>"I wanna try one," Jesse stated as casually as if she'd said, 'I wanna cookie', before drawing her arm back and hurling it up as far as she could.</p><p>A boiling heat that made her skin almost burn off, like the Ender Portals back home, lungs screaming from lack of air crept over her, Lukas's arms tight around her neck- and then suddenly she was slipping through empty space, oh <em>absolutely freaking not-!</em></p><p>Jesse's arms slammed down, scrabbling for a handhold as Lukas clung to her, trying to ignore the distracting feel of his very bushy tail batting against back nervously. "That was... that was disorienting," Jesse said, scrabbling as she managed to crawl onto the ledge without falling. Progress!</p><p>"Please don't do that again, Jesse... that was nerve wracking," Ivor called up to her. Jesse looked back over the ledge to see her d- <em>mentor</em> looking up at her with worried dark blue eyes.</p><p>Jesse felt bad that she'd worried him. "Okay, I promise I won't do that again," she said, automatically crossing her heart and then covering her eye.</p><p>Ivor, Petra and Lukas all smiled at that, although Cassie seemed a bit bemused, before they all clambered up after Jesse.</p><p>Jesse looked to Cassie, who still looked rather small and nervous standing there, her cat perched on her shoulder like a pirate's parrot. "Where's the portal?"</p><p>Cassie shuffled her feet, before looking around. "Mmmm ah, I see it," and she trotted off, the others being quick to follow her. Lukas didn't get off Jesse, who looked up at the ocelot hybrid. "Mind getting off, Lukas?"</p><p>Lukas pretended to think about it. "Hmmm nah. This is fun."</p><p>Jesse stuck her tongue out at him very maturely. "Lazy kitty."</p><p>"Hey!"</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes with a laugh and went after Cassie, still on all eights.</p><p>Cassie shivered a little as she looked at Jesse. "Jeez, it's weird seeing a person walking like a spider..." she mumbled, looking slightly uncomfortable.</p><p>"You should probably get used to it," Lukas said, smiling slightly.</p><p>Jesse stuck her tongue out at him again as Cassie flipped another lever. Pistons fired, and a stone wall slid rather jerkily out of the way, revealing the REAL portal.</p><p>"I think you'd get along with Olivia," Jesse said mildly, as Lukas finally climbed off. "I mean, you know, once you get past the whole 'murderer' thing."</p><p>"Who's Olivia?"</p><p>Petra tapped her lip, a thoughtful look coming into her gold eyes. "Huh... you know, you have a good point there, Jesse."</p><p>"A friend who likes redstone," Lukas said simply.</p><p>"Ah..."</p><p>Jesse knelt down next to the portal, pulling out the flint and steel, before clicking them together.</p><p>A pillar of blue flame shot up, and then the doorway blazed a bright, beautiful green.</p><p>"Back to the hallway," Jesse sighed, putting her hands on her hips.</p><p>"Okay, who's going first?" Lukas asked.</p><p>Jesse stood up, giving them all a smile as her lower arms put the flint and steel back away. "Hey, we're all a team now. We all go together."</p><p>Cassie's eyes filled with hope, as Jesse turned back to the portal, a determined look on her face. "Ready? One... two..." Everyone joined in, "three..."</p><p>Jesse, Lukas, Petra, and Cassie (accompanied with Winslow) all charged through the portal. Ivor paused right in front, looking back for a moment, a small grin coming over his face. "Adventure!"</p><p>And he ran through the portal too.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0116"><h2>116. Nightmares and Comforts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"Jess! Jess!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse looked up- just in time for a brown-haired blur to barrel into her and plow the two of them to the ground, gray ears and tail twitching.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Ow," Jesse complained teasingly, head tilted back before she looked back down. "Hi, Jesse."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her brother beamed at her, bouncing up and down. Which hurt a little, since he was sitting on her, but whatever. "Guess what, guess what?" he said. He really was quite energetic.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Miss... um... the red-haired woman gave me a nickname!" the brown-haired boy bounced up and down some more, green eyes crinkled up happily and looking very pleased. "She called me Jace!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse blinked at her brother, before a thoughtful look came into her eyes. "Jace. Huh." A small smile curved on her lips. "I like that name."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I like it too!" 'Jace' said, bouncing up and down some more. "Can that be my name now? Can it? Can it?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse thought about it for a couple seconds, and then smiled up at her brother. "Sure, Jace."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jace beamed happily.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Now can you scoot? You're giving me a stomachache."</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Jesse squirmed in the machine. Her brother wasn't there. Where was her brother?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Give her the DNA now."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was a quiet voice, but it made her squirm even more as she tried to sit up to see who was talking. A hand pressed her back down, not to hurt her, just keeping her there, before something entered her arm. A moment later, it stung and made a squeezing pain hit Jesse's arm.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse let out something somewhat akin to a whine, kicking unhappily to get the person go away. Thankfully, the thing went away.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And then suddenly, her sides were hurting, and her eyes were hurting, and she was kicking even harder now- were they doing the thing to her sides again?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No, because that had only hurt a little bit, and only for a second. Now it was growing even stronger, as if an iron clamp was squeezing her, and she kicked even more furiously and thrashed around, hitting something hard. She opened her eyes seeing nothing but white, white and clearness, except she could see her face, reflected back at her, and what was this thing?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I hope the glass doesn't break..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And suddenly the pain, the worst pain yet, hit Jesse so hard that all the air was sucked out of her lungs, and her sides were being put through a blender, and she was screaming and kicking the glass so hard that she felt it crack under her hands as she thrashed, screamed, screamed until the air in her lungs was gone and she was gasping for more air, making knives and needles and fists slam into her as she desperately inhaled, sucking in air-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And then something brushed against her, and Jesse turned to the glass, still screaming, still trying to get this to stop, get the pain to stop, and saw herself, only not herself, because she didn't have a red eye, and she didn't have these strange- strange bumps- she didn't have these bumps that were beginning to poke through the white shirt the people gave her-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And then everything was going black and Jesse didn't feel the pain anymore.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Jace was screaming, screaming his head off as he thrashed on the scientist's shoulder to get to his sister, his twin sister, and the pain was mounting as Jesse clung to her head, which felt like it was about to explode all over the floor. She had to get to him, she had to stop this awful headache and go protect her twin, but the headache wasn't stopping, it was getting worse, there was a high-pitched whining that was starting. What was happening, what was happening, why did this hurt?!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A low voice came over the screaming and the pounding and the pain that was making her world go blurry.</em>
</p><p><em>"I'm... I'm not sure causing her this type of pain is </em>safe<em>-"</em></p><p>
  <em>A low, calm chuckle, cutting over the man's voice. "She'll be fine. These hybrids were created with durability in mind."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And with that Jesse fell to the ground, the words she couldn't recall before echoing through her head, accompanied by the pounding of her head and the scream that shattered her world.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"</em>
  <strong>JESSE!</strong>
  <em>"</em>
</p><hr/><p>Jesse bolted upright, sweat pouring off of her, her throat raw and eyes bloodred. A pair of hands was clinging to her shoulders, and saying things that her screaming was drowning out, and someone was screaming, why didn't they stop-</p><p>"Jesse! <em>Jesse! Calm down!</em>"</p><p>Jesse's lungs ran out of air, and the spider hybrid was panting as the screaming came to a close, and she realized that it had been her who was screaming the whole time.</p><p>Everything came into focus. Lukas was clinging to Jesse tightly, his hands holding her shoulders and claws digging into her skin slightly, painfully, blue-green eyes wide with fear. "Jesse? Are you okay?"</p><p>Still a little groggy, Jesse made to get up, but was pushed back down. In the background, the multicolored portals illuminated everything, including Cassie, who was blinking and her hands were twitching as if she wanted to grab something, eyes going rather red- and then concerned, as she spotted Jesse. Petra was on her feet, looking rather disoriented, and Ivor was rummaging through a bag.</p><p>A potion bottle was shoved under her, a potion that was filled with almost clear liquid. Only the clear liquid was tainted a faint, pale blue. "Jesse, drink this."</p><p>Jesse shakily looked up into Ivor's blue eyes, not reaching up to take the potion.</p><p>"Jesse."</p><p>Jesse just swallowed, every muscle in her body so tight that it felt like she was about to explode, staring up at Ivor, eyes probably filled with fear.</p><p>"C'mon, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse's upper arms slowly reached up, taking the bottle, making the liquid inside vibrate as her hands shook, putting the cool glass bottle to her lips and draining the whole thing.</p><p>Immediately, her entire body relaxed, and Jesse felt okay. More than okay, actually, she felt pretty relaxed.</p><p>"Jesse, what was that?" Petra asked, still looking rather groggy.</p><p>"Nightmare," Jesse said, rather serenely, looking down at the potion bottle and blinking at it before back up at Ivor. "Calming Potion?"</p><p>"You needed it," Ivor said shortly, "that sounded like some nightmare."</p><p>Jesse had to think about that. "I guess it was okay at first," she said, thoughtfully. "But then it turned into a nightmare after not too long. Kind of a jumble of memories is all." She still sounded oddly serene.</p><p>Cassie blinked at her as Jesse leaned into Lukas, lower arms instinctively engaging in petting. Ivor started rubbing Jesse's back as well, in circles that made Jesse's already rather relaxed body go even calmer.</p><p>Petra was blinking disorientedly, and Jesse reached out. "I think I need a hot water bottle after all that," she said mildly, as Lukas started purring, curling up next to Jesse. Winslow padded over, sniffed his blonde ocelot friend, and then curled up next to him. Cassie crept closer, facial expression rather nervous.</p><p>Petra plopped down next to Jesse, leaning up against her as Ivor leaned into her as well, putting some pressure on his hands. The warmth spread over Jesse, making a calm smile come over her face.</p><p>It took quite a while, but Jesse managed to get back to sleep, with Cassie leaning against the wall and watching them as Petra snoozed, using Lukas as a pillow while Lukas purred like a car engine, Ivor still patting her quietly and the colored lights of the portals illuminating the whole hallway dimly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0117"><h2>117. A Rose's Thorns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Cassie blinked. Her aunt and her had slipped away from her auntie's friends (who were rougher than Cassie would like- her aunt wasn't exactly the healthiest person) and her auntie had led her to a room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She had not been expecting the pile of blankets in the center, with a little girl and a little boy curled up in them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie's green eyes roved over the girl's short, fluffy black hair, the boy's pointed ears nestled in his brown hair, his tail, her extra arms...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Auntie? Are these the hybrids you've been telling us about?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes dear."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The black-haired girl sat up, blinking slowly at them with a confused, sleepy look in her green eyes, like Cassie's, that faded away to just a curious look as she stared.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"This is Jesse. Although- don't tell anyone. Jesse's just their birth names. I'm not supposed to use it for either, but they respond to it, so I don't see the harm."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie edged towards Jesse timidly, who stared back at her almost owlishly. Suddenly, the little girl hissed in a strange, humming sort of manner.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie stepped back, a bit alarmed. "Auntie, she hissed at me!" she exclaimed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"The DNA is still trying to get used to its new body- Jesse's going to be speaking in Spider for a very long while after this," her aunt responded, calmly. The calm response calmed Cassie down, and she looked at the black-haired girl for a moment before back up at her aunt. "Aunt Cassie, do you think she'd play with me if I asked?"</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Cassie giggled as she threw the ball and a web flew into the air, catching it before slingshotting it back into her grip. "You're good at this!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse smiled back at her, a bright sort of smile on her face. "Thanks," she said, although her voice still sounded rather like a humming hiss.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her brother mumbled something about them being too loud and burrowed under the blankets, making both girls giggle cheerfully. The two four-year-olds got along rather well, since Cassie's auntie visited so often.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie threw the ball as high as she could, and Jesse shot a web casually, retracting it so it slapped into her palm, before tossing it back to Cassie, who jumped to catch it, missed, and had to go chasing after it. "How are you so good at this?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse thought about it. Her lip poked out in thought. "Hmmm, I don't know. The scientists test me a lot. I guess maybe it's because I'm a spider?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie shrugged and threw the ball again, which Jesse caught and threw back again. "Well, I don't really care- it makes playing catch with you a lot of fun!" she giggled cheerfully.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse smiled at her. "Glad to hear it," she said cheerfully, her voice still a low sort of hum.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Cassie eased the door open. Her aunt had told her to go find Jesse, because she needed to talk to her friends. So here she was.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse was lying in the pile of blankets like the first time, but she sat up when she saw Cassie, though her eyes were narrowed in confusion. Where was Jesse? ... ah, the boy. The wolf hybrid one.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hi, Jesse," she said, quiveringly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse squinted at her. "Hi," she responded, after a moment. Then, "are you talking to me?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie blinked at that. "Yeah- of course I am, I'm using your name, aren't I?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"But I don't have a name," Jesse stated, matter-of-factly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Jesse, what are you talking about?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse looked at Cassie warily, stepping back a bit. "Why are you in here?" she asked, sounding a bit worried.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie looked at Jesse, not sure what to say. "Jesse...?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The door banged open again, making both girls jump and Jesse flinch.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie's aunt was standing there, a dangerous look in her eyes as one of her friends came up behind her. "C'mon, Rosie- we're leaving," she said angrily, before covering her mouth and coughing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cassie turned to look at Jesse, who just stared at her mildly. "See you," she said, finally.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse just nodded, a funny look on her face. "See you," she echoed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Cass, please, I didn't know either-"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'm sorry, Harper," the red-haired woman seethed, taking Cassie's hand and walking out briskly, past a woman wearing a brown shawl over a lighter brown worksuit, goggles pushed up on her forehead as her black locks spilled over her shoulders, "but I cannot stay with that-" her hands went over Cassie's ears for some reason, "and I'm not staying here one minute longer." Another harsh cough. "Good-bye."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And she stormed out, Cassie looking back at the fluffy-haired, bemused looking spider hybrid behind her before the door banged shut with a final air.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Cassie hugged her kitten, Winslow, tears pouring down her face as she sat down in the big empty house.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ever since she and her aunt and retreated here, to this distant world with two moons, the two of them had lived together.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was okay, really. Her aunt had hidden the flint and steel, so it wasn't like they were just going to leave. They weren't super happy, the two of them, living somewhere neither of them were used to, but they were together, so everything had been okay.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>At least, it'd been okay until her aunt had left her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You promised, Aunt Cassie," she whispered, hugging her knees, tears pouring down her face, "you promised you'd stay with me. No one else did, so why..." a slow sob, tears dripping onto the glasses she'd set in her lap, "why did you leave me alone?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Now this world was a prison. Cassie wanted to go home, find her old friend.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She barely remembered that friend, since they'd lived here since Cassie'd been five. She was eleven now, of course. But she wanted that friend. She remembered that friend, a warm glow who she'd seen every once in a while.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But she couldn't.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She was trapped.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>With only memories that taunted her every time she went to sleep.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Cassie was hitting the armor stands again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her axe was slicing through them, cutting up the old wood, smashing them to splinters so that they scattered practically knee-deep all over the floor, rage building up in her and coming out violently, in hacks and swings and slashes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Finally, she forced herself to stop, muscles aching, sweat pouring down her face, rage making her eyes turn red. It was funny- apparently, their family had a slight genetic condition that made their eyes turn red when truly angry or shocked. It wasn't something she'd been aware of until one time when she'd looked in the mirror while getting angry at- well, at everything, really. She'd gotten quite a shock when she'd spotted a pair of red eyes glaring right back at her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She looked at the broken, shattered remains of the armor stands on the floor, White Pumpkins growing in the growing station serenely outside. Her aunt had loved breeding them- white was so much of a 'new start' to her aunt, since it was the color of a blank sheet of paper. Or something like that. Cassie never really did understand why her aunt loved the color white so much.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She slammed the axe into the wall with a crunch, feeling a furious grief rip through her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She tried to avoid thinking of her aunt as much as humanly possible, really. She busied herself to keep herself from thinking about it- beating up the armor stands, setting up redstone traps just for fun, brewing (she wasn't too good at it, though)... she never interacted with people though. It was almost like a personal insult to admit that she needed help for something, even when she was building her traps and kept dropping supplies on her foot.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She looked down at the armor stands and then her axe, a strange thought crossing her mind, one that would start a rather horrible obsession in the red-haired, green-eyed girl</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I wonder how this would feel, cutting through an actual person?"</em>
</p><hr/><p>"<em>The portal key's been found," Cassie said, a low thrill running through her as she petted Winslow. He looked up at the girl, a sort of concern in his green eyes that she hadn't seen from anyone else in such a long time.</em></p><p><em>"I have to get that portal key," Cassie said, staring at the portal, which had been hidden- here, underground, for so long- hidden so only she could ever come and go through it. Because she and her aunt and built it together, just in case they ever needed to go back, but of course both of them had laughed and joked about that very slim possibility. Because it was </em>hers<em>, hers and her aunts, theirs </em>only.</p><p>
  <em>She flashed back to the green, glowing flint and steel, the one her aunt had told her she was going to hide and had been true to her word for.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I have to get it back, no matter what," Cassie said,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"It's the only thing I have left of Aunt Cass."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her fists clenched in her lap, tears threatening to spill over and out of her luminous green eyes, as Winslow let out a piteous meow.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"It's the only thing I have left."</em>
</p><hr/><p>Cassie jolted upright, eyes widening as she gasped a bit, hand flying to her mouth.</p><p>The others were puttering around, Petra eating something that looked remarkably like a piece of charred meat. Winslow and Lukas were sharing a toasted fish, Ivor was moving some stuff around in his bag, and Jesse-</p><p>"Hey, Cassie."</p><p>Cassie jumped, whipping around to see Jesse looking at her. "What is it?" she asked, rather warily, red eyes fading back to normal.</p><p>If Jesse'd noticed, she didn't give any indication, holding out a rather large piece of toast with a set of her lower arms. "Want some?" she asked, pleasantly enough.</p><p>Cassie took the toast, her heart rate going back to normal. "S-sure. Thanks." Cassie then bit into the toast, Jesse looking at her with a serene look. "You feeling better?" Cassie asked, after a couple moments of chewing.</p><p>"Much, thank you. I don't think that calming potion has quite worn off yet," Jesse said thoughtfully, "although it does certainly help with sleeping. Makes things so much more peaceful."</p><p>"Cool," Cassie hastened to respond, cheeks filled with toast.</p><p>Jesse let out a mild laugh, before continuing, still quite serenely, "we're about to try another portal, it's that blue one over there," and she gestured at a dark blue portal filled with the dark blue swirls of a portal. "You might wanna get ready."</p><p>"Cool, thanks," Cassie said, hastily swallowing this time.</p><p>Jesse gave her a placid thumbs-up before wandering back over to the others to go chat with them.</p><p>Cassie went on eating her slice of toast, but somehow, she couldn't help wondering how different her life might've turned out if she'd just asked for help when she'd needed it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0118"><h2>118. Portal-Hopping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse lunged to the side out of the portal, water forming in a little puddle in the floor as her arms scrabbled to get her back into a standing position, slipping on the wet floor.</p><p>Lukas followed a moment later, crashing ungracefully into the floor as his tail flipped into the air and whapped him on the head, Petra whipped around the corner, steam coming off of her in clouds, Cassie slipping, tripping, and nearly doing a faceplant on the floor, Winslow letting out a loud meow as he almost got squashed.</p><p>Before anyone could say anything, the four soaking wet teenagers gaping at each other silently, a huge wall of water exploded out of the portal, sending a screaming Ivor into a duller dark blue portal right across the hallway.</p><p>Jesse tore off the glass helmet she was wearing for breathing purposes, tossing it onto the floor, and raced after Ivor, creeping across the floor using all eight of her limbs. Lukas yanked his off as Cassie pulled her own off, Petra letting out an aggravated groan and leaving the glass helmet on the floor as she raced after the others. "Aggh, not again!"</p><hr/><p>Jesse let out a loud yell as she came out of the green portal, all she was able to see being a tangle of black.</p><p>Since, you know, there was a SQUID on her HEAD. I mean, Jesse was okay with squids, but not on her head!</p><p>"Get it off! Get it off!" Jesse yelled, practically at the top of her lungs, before racing across the hallway, the familiar feeling of the bead-curtain parting greeting her as she accidentally ran into yet ANOTHER portal.</p><p>She heard a laugh from Ivor as he hustled after her, Lukas snickering as he followed, even a soft chuckle from Cassie (and the sound of Petra facepalming), and promised herself that she was going to give them all a good hard punch on the shoulder after this whole thing was over.</p><p>Once she got this accursed squid off her head, of course.</p><hr/><p>Jesse skidded out of this olive-green portal, Petra racing after her and the Blaze hybrid colliding with her, sending the spider hybrid tripping backwards onto the floor.</p><p>Cassie bolted out of the portal, tripped over the both of them, and landed on the floor, Winslow letting out a yowl of complaint as Ivor and Lukas came sprinting out as if there were a dragon on their tails (literally for Lukas), bats flying around in a big cloud.</p><p>"BAAAAAAAAAAATS!" Lukas yelled, his ears flattening against his head, as Jesse got to her feet and pretty much ran down the hallway after Winslow, chasing after the calico cat which had decided to run away from the cloud of bats.</p><p>Petra was just crouching on the floor and sending up well placed firebolts at them, knocking them to the floor aimlessly as Cassie flailed her arms wildly. Ivor just ran in circles.</p><p>Bats were really quite a nuisance.</p><hr/><p>Jesse and the others trotted out of the hot-pink portal, Cassie looking distinctly scratched and a bit disgruntled as Winslow perched on her now-rather-lopsided beanie, hissing angrily.</p><p>"I see what you meant about this being more of a punishment," Cassie replied, drily.</p><p>Jesse would've responded, but she was a bit busy pushing some strange English gentleman back through and fishing around with one arm, groping until her hands met an arm and she yanked her ocelot hybrid friend through.</p><p>"What just happened?" Lukas asked, looking a bit disoriented.</p><p>Petra let out a loud, frustrated "Rrrrghh!", sparks popping off of her as the temperature around the Blaze hybrid grew uncomfortably warm, Ivor letting out a laugh in amusement.</p><hr/><p>Jesse gently pushed through the crowd of sheep that were now flooding the hallway, Lukas trying not to get his claws entangled in the woolly fluff as Petra let out a ticked sigh, although Jesse had the feeling she was holding back- otherwise they'd have sheep that were on fire in the hallway.</p><p>Ivor exploded up through a crowd of sheep nearby, spitting wool out of his mouth.</p><p>Cassie shooed one sheep away, but it just insistently butted its head into her stomach. "Quit it, sheep!" she said, putting her hands on her hips.</p><p>The only response she got to that was that the sheep butted her again, making Cassie land on her butt and Petra snort a bit in amusement.</p><p>Petra had a rather sore right arm afterwards.</p><hr/><p>Jesse crawled out of the portal on the floor, her extra arms propelling her out as she stood on the floor- and then did a flip before slamming into the stone floor with a yelp as gravity finally went back to normal, climbing back to her feet in slight pain and stepping back as the four others climbed out, Cassie's beanie now looking a bit tattered from how much Winslow was clawing it.</p><p>And then the four of them all landed on the floor with a yell as their own gravity went back to normal, Ivor pretty much squashing Cassie, which made Winslow yowl in turn and Cassie then yelp.</p><p>Jesse never knew that Cassie knew so many swear words.</p><hr/><p>Petra marched out of the swirling white portal, leaving snow footprints all over the floor and dusting off the white coating of the stuff that had formed on her that melted into little steaming puddles on the floor.</p><p>Lukas shivered as he came out, hugging himself as his ears flattened and tail whacked himself, smacking off some of the snow. "Brr... Ice Lakes," he shuddered.</p><p>Ivor grinned as he game out, before launching a sphere of snow at Petra, making her glower at the two boys behind her as Jesse came through, a bit more sluggishly than usual, Cassie following a second later. Both girls were pretty much coated in the white stuff, and Winslow seemed none too happy. At least the calico cat had switched over to Lukas, so he didn't keep clawing his distinctly battered owner.</p><p>Jesse dusted some snow off of herself and Cassie as Petra went racing after Ivor with an annoyed yell, flames forming in her hands as she chased the fleeing potion master, who was cackling loudly.</p><hr/><p>Jesse, Cassie, Lukas, Ivor and Winslow burst out of the next portal, all of their faces having a lot of ashes on them and the seat of Lukas's pants being on fire.</p><p>Jesse coughed, hacking out a good mouthful of ashes. "That was crazy!" she spit out, still trying to get rid of the taste of burned stuff as Petra strolled out, looking perfectly okay. In fact, she looked rather energetic. "That wasn't too bad," Petra said casually, although the Blaze hybrid still looked rather annoyed.</p><p>"Easy for you to say!" Cassie hacked out, giving the red-haired Blaze hybrid a mock-glare, "you're basically someone who can walk through fire with no problem whatso-frickin-ever!"</p><p>"Why would there even BE a fire world?" Jesse grumbled in agreement, spitting out another mouthful of ashes as Ivor shook his hair vigorously, scattering ashes all over Winslow and making the calico cat give the potionologist a rather disgruntled look before padding over to Cassie and rubbing against her side, purring. It honestly made Jesse's heart hurt to see the almost Reuben-like relationship between Winslow and Cassie.</p><p>Jesse made a little gasping sound as she finally spotted Lukas's pants being on fire. Lukas started turning in circles, trying to see what was going on.</p><p>Jesse leaned down automatically and patted the fire out as fast as possible, aided by Lukas's frantically flicking tail as Lukas danced in place a bit. "Thanks, guys," he said, relieved, as the fire got put back out.</p><p>Jesse leaned back with a relieved look and gave him a thumbs' up, before Lukas took out this brown journal and a quill and started writing in it. "I marked that one down as Fire World," he said, after a second.</p><p>"Wow," Petra said, sarcastically. "How did you come up with THAT gem of a name?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0119"><h2>119. Seeing Red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lukas raised his eyebrow, tail twitching as his ears quivered a bit, shaking some more ashes off of his head. "Okay, did I miss something here?" he asked.</p><p>"Yeah, what's up with you?" Jesse asked, mildly enough. Especially considering the calming potion had more than worn off by now.</p><p>"What's up with me?" Petra asked, voice getting rather loud and frustrated, "what's UP? I'm tired of all this useless portal-hopping trying to find our way home! 'What's on the other side of that portal? A lake of fire and netherrack? Awesome! Let's go there!'" she made a dumb, hokey voice.</p><p>"Okay, first off, I thought this portal would lead us to the Nether or something, at which point we could just wander back home. I did NOT know it'd be- er- Fire World," Jesse said, for lack of a better name. "Second, we're all pretty frustrated, Petra."</p><p>"Yeah, what Jesse said," Cassie said, trying to wipe some ashes off her glasses but just succeeding in smudging them around. Jesse handed her a handkerchief, which Cassie took with a grateful nod and began to polish at the glass furiously.</p><p>"I know, I know, it's just- it's not really GETTING us anywhere!" Petra grumbled, another frustrated sound coming out of her throat.</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before looking over at Lukas. "Lukas, you're on fire again."</p><p>Lukas started squirming, his tail thwacking everything in a three foot radius (which included Jesse) in an effort to put the fire back out.</p><p>"See... ugh," Petra sighed, "this is what I'm talking about. We're stuck in a rut- go through a portal, avoid dying long enough to get back to this STUPID hallway-"</p><p>"Wash, rinse, repeat... yes," Ivor sighed, scratching at his head and looking around at the mile-long hallway filled with portals.</p><p>Cassie grunted and crossed her arms. "Wish my aunt and her friends had at least left some signs around- it would be nice."</p><p>Jesse sighed, rubbing her head. "Yeah, unfortunately it's not like we have directions about how all this works. It'd be nice to have... I dunno, like a map or something. Honestly, at this rate I'd settle just for a sign that's labelled... well I don't know what our world'd be called, but yeah. So of course, there's going to be <em>some</em> trial and error-"</p><p>"- and error, and error, and error, and error, and <em>error</em>," Petra said, throwing her hands into the air and marching off down the hallway.</p><p>"Petra?" Ivor asked, a rather bewildered look on his face. Cassie finished the statement for him. "Where are you going?"</p><p>"There may not be guideposts," Petra said, looking around at the portals and giving them a rather disgruntled look, "but SOMEONE'S gotta be able to tell us how to navigate these stupid portals."</p><p>Petra stopped in front of one portal that glowed a bright red. "Okay, this one's redstone," Petra said, looking at it and then turning back to her friends, "Redstone means smart people. Hopefully smart enough to help us find the way home."</p><p>"Petra, I promise, we'll find the portal home," Jesse said, calmly.</p><p>"It's that or die trying, right?" Petra asked, sarcastically.</p><p>Jesse was about to open her mouth and say, 'Actually, yes, that does seem to be the case' but that just didn't seem like a good idea right now.</p><p>"So what are you saying?" Lukas said, tail flicking in agitation. "That you've made up your mind, you're just going through this portal and that's it? What if we run into another psycho-White-Pumpkin mansion?"</p><p>He realized what he'd said a second later and gave the deadpan Cassie an apologetic look. "Um, no offense."</p><p>"None taken," Cassie drawled.</p><p>"Maybe that's what I AM saying," Petra said, sharply, gold eyes beginning to glow with angry heat, "maybe I'm just saying that I'm tired of Jesse calling the shots every. Single. Time."</p><p>Jesse felt as though someone had just punched her in the gut, and her eyes widened a bit as she gaped at Petra.</p><p>"Whoa! Maybe- maybe we should all calm down," Lukas said, looking around nervously as Cassie and Ivor glanced between the spider and Blaze hybrid as if this were some sort of bizarre real-life soap opera. "R-right?"</p><p>Jesse dropped her gaze to the floor, looking and feeling incredibly uncomfortable. "Sorry, Petra," she said, softly. "I guess I do take charge a lot of the time..."</p><p>Now it was Petra's turn to look uncomfortable, her gold eyes no longer glowing with red-hot anger. "Well... I mean, you do tend to make pretty good decisions a lot of the time. Even if you are a dork sometimes," she joked a bit.</p><p>Jesse smiled a little at that.</p><p>"Sorry, I'm- I'm just frustrated."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at all the portals. "Oh yes. Because any sane person would NOT get frustrated when running through an endless hallway of portals," she drawled, sarcastically, making Petra laugh a little.</p><p>"See?" Lukas asked, tail twitching a bit as he relaxed, "It's okay! Friends... being friendly! Everybody being cool!"</p><p>Cassie covered her mouth as she coughed, but when she removed her hand her lips were still twitching a little bit at the corners.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath and looked back up at Petra. "Well, Petra, if you think that portal's the one we should go through..."</p><p>"I do," Petra said, giving a nod.</p><p>Jesse put her lower hands on her hips, smiling slightly. "Then that's what we're gonna do."</p><p>Petra just gave the spider hybrid a little sheepish smile. "Thanks, Jesse."</p><p>And she turned and walked through the portal, Jesse following her-</p><p>The moment she hit the portal, though, she knew something was wrong or... different about this one. It was still the bead curtain feeling...</p><p>but there were also small tingles of electricity that stung Jesse every couple of seconds.</p><p>Even with every single one of the other portals, she'd never gotten a feeling from any of them. Not a specific one, anyway.</p><p>Which made Jesse wonder what was going on with this portal, and if they hadn't just made a terrible, terrible mistake.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0120"><h2>120. Rare Biome</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse slammed onto her back, feeling the heat almost immediately as a couple grains of sand puffed up around her. Lukas crashed down a couple feet away, and Cassie was unfortunate enough to land on her face to get a whole mouthful of sand.</p><p>Winslow made a funny, angry sounding meow as he got up and shook a dust cloud of sand out of his fur.</p><p>"This is... oddly pretty, in a way," Jesse, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around. "I gotta wonder though, how does anyone live here?"</p><p>Petra sheepishly rubbed her head as Cassie spit sand out of her mouth. "Maybe there's... I dunno, like a redstone city over that hill? Behind that mountain?" she trailed off, rather weakly.</p><p>"Hey, it's a rare biome," Lukas said, pulling out the journal again, "that's pretty cool, at least."</p><p>"Hey, Lukas, I've been meaning to ask you, what's that?" and Jesse pointed at the small brown book in his hands.</p><p>Lukas looked up from where he was writing in the journal. "Oh! It's, ah, it's just... a journal, that I picked up back at Cassie's place." He chuckled nervously, glancing at Cassie.</p><p>Cassie peered at it. "Huh, I think it was one of the journals I planned to start writing in and then never got around to it. Never mind, at least it's being put to good use."</p><p>Lukas looked a bit startled that the red-haired girl was taking this view. "Oh- right, okay." He slipped the journal back into his pocket as Ivor looked around the place, strolling around and looking about him. "Uh, how.. how you doing, Petra?"</p><p>"So much for my hunch with that redstone portal, huh?" Petra asked, with a sigh.</p><p>"Hey, don't beat yourself up, Petra," Jesse said, looking around at the rather deserted biome, Winslow perching on Cassie's shoulder with a content meow, "we've seen worse."</p><p>"Hey, yeah!" Lukas perked up. "At least there's no fire, no squids..."</p><p>"No squids on fire," Ivor added from where he was standing.</p><p>Jesse didn't seem sure whether to laugh or look stern at that, and decided to compromise by choking.</p><p>"Maybe you're right," Petra said.</p><p>But she looked considerably more cheerful after that, as Lukas good-heartedly thumped Jesse on the back.</p><p>"Hm, would you look at that. It looks like some sort of road," Ivor hummed, looking at the ground interestedly. There was a pale, sandy path that travelled in a long, straight line.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms. "Well, it looks like a road, no matter how shoddy the work looks... which means civilization, which means someone had to have built it," she said, thoughtfully, before giving Petra a grin. "I don't think you were that off with your hunch, Petra."</p><p>Petra looked even more cheered.</p><p>"I think you're right," Lukas said rather agreeably.</p><p>"Well," Cassie said, drawing all four sets of eyes to her and making the redhead shrink slightly, "we're not going to find out where it goes by standing around on it."</p><p>"Yeah, Rose is right," Jesse said absentmindedly.</p><p>Cassie looked at Jesse, arching her eyebrow. "'Rose'?"</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"You just called me Rose."</p><p>"Did I?" Jesse squinted at Cassie a bit. "I think it sounds nicer. I guess maybe it's because of your hair?"</p><p>Cassie blinked, her hand going to her hair automatically at that last part.</p><p>"It is pretty nice hair," Lukas agreed mildly.</p><p>"Let's go," Ivor said teasingly, pushing the three teenagers ahead and making Jesse stumble a bit. She shot her d- mentor a mock glare and started trotting along the makeshift road, Cassie still blinking at the new nickname Jesse had just given her. Winslow looked pleased and let out a sort of meow.</p><p>"Winslow is pleased that Cassie is socializing," Lukas reported.</p><p>"Is he really," Jesse said, giving the calico cat a rather sad backwards glance before turning back around, scanning their surroundings. "Sand. Clay. Annnd more sand."</p><p>The sound of a rock shifting came to their ears and Jesse tensed a bit. "What was that?" she asked cautiously.</p><p>Petra looked at Jesse and Lukas, looking a bit wary. "Well, I was right, there are people here... you two are the stealth people, wanna check it out?"</p><p>"Lazy," Jesse joked, thumping her friend on the head and making the Blaze hybrid stick her tongue out at her. Jesse proceeded to drop to all eights and raced across the ground, before poking her head over a lump of earth.</p><p>"What do you see?"</p><p>Jesse scanned the landscape, and then her eyes widened. "What th-"</p><p>"What? What is it?" Lukas pressed down on Jesse's shoulders to peep over her shoulder at the zombie.</p><p>The zombie that had a strange, flashing red chip on the back of its head.</p><p>"Why isn't it on fire?" Jesse mused, frowning at the zombie thoughtfully.</p><p>Lukas was quiet for a moment as he thought about that. "Maybe that's... this world's 'thing?' Zombies and other monsters come out in the daytime?" he suggested, peering at the zombie carefully. "Not that much crazier than anything else we've seen."</p><p>"We should try to get a closer look," Jesse whispered back. "Try to see what we can find out."</p><p>Lukas gave the black-haired spider hybrid a thumbs up. "Cool."</p><p>He unsheathed his claws, which made a sharp metallic sound. Jesse looked over the lump of earth to see the zombie beginning to turn, as Lukas's muscles tensed, coiling- and then he pounced, slashing with one hand before whirling around and bringing the other claw down on the zombie.</p><p>The zombie turned to face Lukas, eyes glowing red. It showed no sign of going down.</p><p>"Uh- J-Jess-"</p><p>Jesse lunged down, lower arm flicking out an axe as an upper arm yanked out her sword, and she brought down her sword on the zombie's head as hard as possible.</p><p>The zombie turned to face Jesse, who kept slashing with the sword. "Oh- oh, okay then, we've- there's something wrong with this zombie!" Jesse exclaimed, her axe arm bringing the weapon up in a deadly arc, cutting into the zombie's ribs as Jesse's sword sliced at its neck.</p><p>Claws punched right through the zombie's chest, and the zombie stood there, an interlocked mess of claws and sword and axe before exploding into dust, making Jesse drop her arms tiredly and give Lukas a fierce, tired grin. "Not what we were expecting, huh?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0121"><h2>121. Super Zombies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Jesse? Are you okay?" Jesse suddenly found Ivor practically right up next to her, frantically checking her over, dark blue eyes darting over the spider hybrid as he looked the girl up and down. "Are you hurt? It was just one zombie, what was the problem?"</p><p>Lukas shook his head so fast that his ears flapped a bit. "Nuh-uh, that thing was like- I don't know, 'Super Zombie' or something."</p><p>Jesse gave the blonde ocelot hybrid a deadpan look. "Really? 'Super Zombie?'" she asked, trying not to sound too terribly amused.</p><p>"Oh hush. It was stronger... tougher... faster..." Lukas made a face. "Ohhh I hope there's not something wrong with me."</p><p>Jesse scratched her head, squinting her eyes. "Maybe this world's 'thing' is that the mobs are all super-tough?" she offered.</p><p>Petra rubbed her left arm with a thoughtful look on her face, while Cassie's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Hmm, maybe. It definitely seems possible."</p><p>"Oh man, we had so much trouble with just one of the things," Lukas said, making a face, "I can't even begin to think how we might fight a whole horde of them." As he spoke, Jesse spotted something, and her face went white as snow. "Um... speaking of which..."</p><p>They all turned around to look. And- yep- a whole horde of zombies, lurching towards them in creepy rhythm.</p><p>"I'm never talking again," Lukas sulked, unsheathing his claws again.</p><p>"I don't know about you guys," Petra said, hand tight on her sword as it flared to life, flames dancing along the metal, "but I'd like to find a different way to fight these 'super zombies'."</p><p>Cassie whipped out her axe, Winslow crawling under her beanie and curling up tight underneath it. Cassie looked over at Jesse. "Uh, Jesse?"</p><p>"What are you looking at me for? <em>I</em> don't know how to handle the super-zombies," Jesse grumbled a little, all four of them backing up, backing up, until their backs hit sandstone.</p><p>The zombies rotting hands were inches from their faces... centimeters... and suddenly, their arms dropped, and their heads tilted forward, all of their eyes still a luminous red.</p><p>A short silence as they all stared. "That was... unexpected," Lukas voiced what everyone was thinking, reaching out tentatively and poking one of the zombies. It just swayed in place slightly.</p><p>Jesse frowned at the huge, flashing red... thing on the back of all the zombies' heads. "What in the name of Notch IS that thing?" she asked rather flatly, pointing at it. "Cassie?" she glanced at their current resident redstone expert.</p><p>Cassie trotted around to have a look at it, frowning intently at the strange thing. "I've never seen anything like this before... but it definitely has something to do with redstone, though what I have no clue."</p><p>"Fascinating," Ivor hummed, leaning forward to look at the thing as well.</p><p>Jesse poked one zombie with her sword. It also just swayed. "Maybe these redstone-y things are what make the zombies so... blank," she wondered.</p><p>Lukas finished scribbling it down in his journal, pushing the thing back into his pocket. "Makes sense to me. I'm starting to wonder if we should-"</p><p>What he was about to say, they'd never know, because suddenly a loud ringing sound rang out, staticky and loud and- and-</p><p>Jesse grabbed at her head, shaking it furiously, but the pain was growing to the point where it felt like someone was stabbing it.</p><p>"Augh!" Lukas yelled, over the sound, "What IS that?!"</p><p>Cassie was clutching her head as well. "It's- it's like it's in my head!" she shouted back.</p><p>Jesse would've responded, except suddenly the scene in front of her fell away.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"Jesse!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse looked up to see Lukas barreling across the floor. It seemed familiar, and the little spider hybrid spent three seconds trying to puzzle it out before deciding it was nothing. "Yeah?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lukas put on the brakes, couldn't stop in time, and smacked into the spider hybrid, knocking the both of them to the floor in a tangle of limbs.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse giggled as Lukas huffed, lying on top of her. "Ivor said he has something for you!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse jumped up so fast that Lukas slipped to the floor and landed in a bit of a heap. "Really? What are we waiting for then let's go!" And with that the spider hybrid was out of the room.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lukas blinked after the fluffy-haired girl.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Boy she's fast..."</em>
</p><hr/><p>The feedback- or- the- the static- or whatever the heck it was suddenly stopped, as did the sudden memory, Jesse gasping and clutching at her head as it faded away into the recesses of her mind.</p><p>The zombies swung an abrupt 180-degree turn, and started lurching away again.</p><p>Ivor looked utterly nonplussed at that. "They're leaving? Just like that?"</p><p>"They're heading back the way they came from," Cassie noted, squinting at them.</p><p>Lukas's tail flicked as he stared thoughtfully after the zombies. "This might sound crazy... but I feel like they're trying to lead us somewhere," he hummed.</p><p>"You're right, that does sound crazy."</p><p>Lukas playfully smacked Petra on the back of the head for that offhand statement, Jesse squinting at the zombies thoughtfully. "Mmm, let's go," she decided, "I'm starting to think there's somebody behind this and I wanna find out who."</p><p>Cassie shrugged, putting her axe back away and trotting after Jesse, Winslow poking his head out from under the rather tattered and now rather lumpy beanie. "I'm cool with that."</p><p>"So, then, let's get moving," Petra said rather enthusiastically, trotting after them, Lukas and Ivor not looking quite as enthused but still going after the black-haired spider hybrid.</p><p>And the five of them began to walk after the small horde of zombies, making sure to keep a safe distance away, which moved in perfect sync.</p><p>Jesse still found that incredibly creepy, by the way.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0122"><h2>122. Chips Ahoy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The five of them (six if you included Winslow) watched as the zombies lurched towards a higher sort of... town? Well, there were houses, at least.</p><p>Walking up the stairs in complete silence- the strangeness of the whole situation actually made it a little scary for them all, even Cassie (and she was the genius when it came to creepy things), they came to the level of the houses.</p><p>"I don't see any people anywhere," Petra said, sounding a little worried.</p><p>"This architecture's fascinating. It's all sand and clay-based. It's awesome," Lukas said, looking around so fast Jesse was fairly certain the ocelot hybrid was going to crick his neck.</p><p>"Of course you'd say that," Ivor drawled, "you're the one who was trained by Soren the Architect at age five."</p><p>Cassie frowned a bit in the corner of Jesse's peripheral vision; did she recognize that name?</p><p>"Hey!" Petra said, with a grin, and pointing at a small pile of red blocks nearby, "<em>told</em> you guys there'd be redstone!"</p><p>"Speaking of redstone," Ivor said, in his usual rather hushed voice, "I'd like to investigate those..." he trailed off, as if searching for a more satisfactory term.</p><p>"Chips," Cassie offered.</p><p>Honestly, Jesse thought they looked like 'chips' in the barest sense of the word- chips were usually thin and small, not big and bulky and the size of a fist like these, but whatever, it was better than calling them 'those thingies'.</p><p>"Yes, those chips on the back of the zombies' heads," Ivor said, giving Cassie a nod for the suggestion. Cassie perked up slightly.</p><p>"Ooh yeah," Lukas said, his ears perking up with a cheerful look, "I wanna see those too."</p><p>Jesse watched as Ivor approached one of the zombies, which wasn't facing him, and then started to yank on the red... uh, 'chip'.</p><p>"Whoa, wait, what are you doing, D-Ivor?" Jesse asked, hoping her face wasn't turning faintly pink. Honestly, it was getting harder and harder for her not to call Ivor her dad.</p><p>If Ivor noticed the slip, he didn't let on. "What's it look like? I'm going to rip this thing out of this zombie's head. For science. They're... sleeping, or something. It'll be easy!"</p><p>Jesse blinked at that. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"</p><p>"More so for the zombie than for me," Ivor responded promptly, and turned back around to resume 'ripping out that thing for science', before pausing. "I think."</p><p>That wasn't very reassuring.</p><p>Ivor started to pull, which got harder, and harder, until he was practically bracing one foot against the zombie to yank it off- when there was a dazzling flash of white, and Ivor was flat on his back with a yell.</p><p>"Are you okay?!" Lukas exclaimed, while Jesse stared at him, utterly nonplussed. On the inside though, she was having a panic attack.</p><p>"It shocked me!" Ivor snapped, sounding more annoyed than anything.</p><p>"At least we learned something new," Cassie offered, from where she was setting Winslow down on the ground.</p><p>"And what would that be?"</p><p>"They can't be removed. Not- not with our bare hands, anyhow."</p><p>Lukas's ears twitched, and he put a hand around his ears, cupping it with a look of concentration on his face. "Do you hear that?"</p><p>Jesse looked about, before spotting someone walking along a ways away. "Hey! There's someone!" Jesse exclaimed.</p><p>"Think he's friendly?" Cassie asked, a little anxiously.</p><p>Jesse waved her arm. "Hello?" she called. The person didn't turn around. She tried again, waving a little harder. "<em>Hello</em>?"</p><p>The person kept on walking.</p><p>Jesse crossed her lower arms, scratching her head with her uppermost set of arms. "Maybe his... hearing is bad, or something?" she reasoned.</p><p>Lukas shrugged, a bewildered expression on his face. "Um, that makes sense. I... guess."</p><p>Jesse started walking forward, before pausing and looking back at them. "Um, do you guys have like a cloak or something? He might not be too excited to see someone with... y'know."</p><p>Petra shrugged, a disappointed look coming over her face. "That's right, I forgot."</p><p>Lukas patted his pockets, shaking his head with a small frown. "Uh, nope- sorry."</p><p>"Um, I think... yeah, here," and Cassie fished out a large wad of red fabric, which unfolded into a cloak when she shook it out a bit. It was a bit wrinkled up from its time spent in her pocket, but it was good enough.</p><p>"Thanks," and Jesse's lower arm snagged the cloak, tossing it over her shoulders while her fingers quickly did up the clasp. "Okay, hang back a bit, guys- Imma go talk to him."</p><p>"Okay, just- be careful," Petra said, a bit gruffly.</p><p>Lukas nodded. "Yeah, I mean, there's- still a lot about this place we don't know."</p><p>Jesse nodded, giving a thumbs up, and then started towards the guy.</p><p>"Um, hi there," she said, cheerfully enough, rubbing her head awkwardly as she looked at the guy.</p><p>Still nothing. "Um, hello?" Still nothing. "Um, my friends and I could just use-" He turned, and Jesse's eyes widened. "<em>GAH!</em>" she screamed, jumping back, tripping over her feet and landing neatly on her butt, staring at him as he just turned and walked away, the big red chip on the back of his head now obvious, his eyes a glowing red. "Who the- what- huh?" Jesse stuttered out, staring at him with her green and red eyes the size of saucers.</p><p>Ivor ran over to Jesse, checking her over frantically. "Oh dear, are you hurt?" he asked, looking over her frantically.</p><p>"Y... yeah, I'm... I'm okay. Just... very... startled... is all," Jesse eked out, eyes wide.</p><p>"Did the conversation go badly?" Cassie asked, her eyes turning red (and yep, there was no mistaking it this time) as she whipped her axe out over her shoulder, "Do I need to hurt someone?"</p><p>"There is something," Jesse said, shakily, pushing herself to her feet, "Very, very, <em>very</em> wrong going on here. We need to help these people."</p><p>There was a skidding sound before any of them could say anything else, Cassie's hands still strangling her axe, and Jesse looked over to see a small dust cloud rising from a staircase nearby.</p><p>"Jesse?"</p><p>Jesse looked back to them, blinking. "Someone just ran into that house. Whoever they are... maybe they've got some answers."</p><p>And with that Jesse ran towards the house, the others following her, dropping to all eights and scrambling up the stairs before slowing to a stop, on her feet, to see someone with her back facing the spider hybrid. She had on a sort of brown hood over a worksuit. Had Jesse seen that before? She felt like she had...</p><p>"Hello?" Jesse asked, tentatively, as the woman rummaged through the chest, talking to herself as she was pulling out... the chips?</p><p>She turned to look at her, revealing a pair of orange-lensed goggles and a shock of long white hair over dark skin.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0123"><h2>123. Hi?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The woman jumped, throwing the chips all back into the chest with a loud yell, making Jesse jump back and clutch at her cloak automatically. Notch, if she grabbed it any harder she was gong to rip the cloak.</p><p>She looked around, shiftily, gray eyes darting everywhere, before the woman said, rather shakily, "Th-that you, PAMA?"</p><p>Jesse frowned. "Who?"</p><p>The woman looked even more startled at that. "Okay then," the woman said, looking around, getting her composure back, "okay." She pointed at Jesse, eyes narrowing. "Who sent you?"</p><p>Jesse blinked slowly at that. "... myself?"</p><p>The woman blinked again, and Jesse slowly put her uppermost set of arms up in surrender, squinting at the woman. "Um, would you calm down? You're kind of freaking me out," she said, pretty timidly.</p><p>The white-haired woman threw her arms into the air with a soft sound of frustration. "<em>You're</em> freaked out?! How do you think I'm doing?!"</p><p>Jesse kept her hands up in surrender, tilting her head as she tried to recall it. "Hold on," the woman said, gray eyes narrowing as she pointed at Jesse again, "you're serious."</p><p>The woman squinted at Jesse, getting close to the point where Jesse would've pushed her away, if it weren't rude. "Okay... eyes, not red... NOT red... well, except for-"</p><p>She stopped. She blinked. And then she got even closer, face so close that their noses were practically touching.</p><p>She squinted at Jesse, before standing back, looking utterly bewildered, eyes flickering to the cloak which concealed Jesse's extra arms, then back to Jesse's green and red eyes. "Jesse?"</p><p>This more than anything put her on guard. "How do you..."</p><p>Harper's mouth fell open as the others, having probably gotten a little worried from how long it was taking, trotted up to stand behind her a bit. "And there- you're all- this should be- it's impossible!" she spluttered.</p><p>Jesse glanced back at her friends, expecting the utterly confused looks they were giving her- and then stopping cold at Cassie's. Cassie's look wasn't exactly cold, no.</p><p>It was downright glacial.</p><p>Her green eyes were harder and colder than any iceberg Jesse had ever seen, and that included the ones in Ice Lakes. Her face was frozen in a look of quiet anger, disappointment, hope, and recognition. Emotions that were more mixed than Jesse's right now looked as though they'd been thrown together into a blender with over half the blender filled with ice cubes.</p><p>The woman was staring, eyes flickering over Jesse and Cassie, before her eyes hardened and she glared at them. "Okay, is this some sort of joke? Who are you people? What's going on here?"</p><p>"It's a very poor joke if I've ever seen one," Cassie seethed back, hands balling into fists. The woman looked at Cassie for a second, before averting her gaze from the red-haired girl at Petra, Ivor, and Lukas. "I've seen Cassie and Jesse before... but not you three."</p><p>Jesse gave the woman a funny look. "Petra and Lukas are hybrids too. Shouldn't you know? Didn't you work at the Bureau of Amalgamology?" Jesse asked, curiously.</p><p>The woman looked at Jesse, blinking. "Did the memory chip malfunction...?" she wondered, sort of under her breath but still aloud.</p><p>"She did," Cassie said, coldly, "but I don't think she was there when Petra and Lukas were... 'created', for lack of a better term. The <em>Old Builders</em>-" the woman winced a little at the harshly said name, "didn't stick around for very long."</p><p>If human or hybrid jaws were capable of hitting the floor, every person except for the woman and Cassie's would've been slamming through and continuing down to the center of the earth.</p><p>"A-anyway, I know this might sound... odd, but we came here through a portal," Jesse said, to try to break the completely awkward silence that had started filling the room.</p><p>The dark-skinned woman looked rather interested. "A portal? A PORTAL portal? Really?"</p><p>Jesse nodded, Cassie saying nothing except crossing her arms. Winslow let out a soft meow that was ignored.</p><p>"Okay," the woman said, putting her hands to her head and pacing the floor, "okay okay okay okay, uh, been alone for a while, so.. this is a lot to take in right now..." She hesitated, before speaking up again, as Petra sat down on the floor with a completely dumbfounded look. Lukas was looking around the room, tail twitching, Ivor was poking through a chest, and Cassie was still sending the woman a harsh death glare. "The people- the citizens of Crown Mesa- you've met them, right?"</p><p>"If by 'meeting' them you mean seen the fact that they have red eyes and a chip on the back of their head and screaming your head off upon seeing them, then yeah," Jesse said, sardonically. "Out with it, what's going on with these people? What is up with this TOWN?"</p><p>The woman put a hand on Jesse's shoulder, making the spider hybrid tense a little bit. Did she like this woman, back at the lab?</p><p>... casting back through her memories, Jesse got a generally warm feeling. It was faint, but it was there. So... she supposed she HAD liked this woman. Maybe even trusted her a little?</p><p>"It's probably hard to understand right now, but if you meet any more people, please, don't hurt them- they're my friends," the woman said, sounding really sincere.</p><p>Jesse blinked, before inclining her head forward in a stiff nod.</p><p>"They're good people," the woman said, looking down at the ground, "I promise." She hesitated, before starting backwards, hand lifting up rapidly off Jesse's shoulder. "Oh, oh, oh no no no no I've wasted too much time."</p><p>Cassie scowled at the woman, eyes still harder than ice chips. "Yeah?"</p><p>Lukas interrupted this, his voice a whole octave higher than normal. "Uh, Jesse?"</p><p>Jesse turned to look over her shoulder. Immediately, she wished she hadn't- a line of five people with glowing red eyes were marching towards the house. "We've got company!"</p><p>Jesse turned back to the room- and blinked. The woman from before was completely gone now. "Hey, where'd she go?"</p><p>Cassie made some uncomplimentary comments under her breath. All Jesse caught was something about 'never reliable' and 'should've said something', but since she was pretty sure she'd end up on the wrong side of Cassie's axe if she voiced these thoughts, she very wisely kept her mouth shut.</p><p>"Well, they're definitely not ignoring us anymore," Petra sighed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0124"><h2>124. Greetings, I am PAMA</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Jesse?" Lukas eked out, backing up as the red-eyed people marched into the room, "what do we do here?"</p><p>"They don't look happy," Petra said, pressing her back up against the wall as they backed up.</p><p>Cassie gave the Blaze hybrid a bit of a look. "They don't look <em>anything.</em>"</p><p>"Ho-kay, time to go," Jesse said in a rather forced, cheerful voice.</p><p>"Good plan," Ivor remarked rather drily.</p><p>Jesse tried to step forward, but the foremost person shoved her back, almost knocking the spider hybrid off her feet. "Okay, looks like that plan's a no-go," she huffed, a bit frustrated.</p><p>"You are not from this place," all five of the people spoke simultaneously, pointing at the five of them in almost perfect sync.</p><p>Jesse stepped back a step, swallowing nervously. Somehow her mouth had gone dryer than a desert biome. "Um... yeah, I... guess we're not? Just... paying a visit to your... lovely... town here," Jesse said, rather weakly.</p><p>"A decision has been made," the people spoke, in complete unison. Yeah, remember what Jesse said earlier about the zombies moving in unison being creepy? That looked downright adorable compared to these people. "PAMA has questions."</p><p>Petra made a soft sound as one of the people took her arm, and then punched them in the face. Their head snapped to the right, before smoothly rotating back to face them again, red eyes completely blank.</p><p>Petra let out a little yelp that sounded very unlike the Blaze hybrid. Jesse automatically stepped in front of her friends, spreading her arms a little bit to protect them.</p><p>"You will come to PAMA," the voices all spoke in spooky sync.</p><p>"No way are you even <em>considering</em> this, Jesse," Petra said shakily. "Since when do we take orders from..."</p><p>"Mind-controlled people?" Cassie finished flatly.</p><p>Petra nodded a little at that. "Yeah, what the redhead said."</p><p>"You're a redhead, Petra."</p><p>"Oh shut up, Ivor."</p><p>Jesse made another step back, shooting the red-eyed people a nervous smile. It probably helped that she was partially amused by the little interaction just now. In fact, in a different situation, Jesse probably would've started laughing. What a shame that it wasn't a different situation. "Uh, sorry, but, we were actually kind of on our way out-"</p><p>Petra picked up, nodding eagerly at this. "Sorry, we've gotta run, but, ah-"</p><p>"W-would you look at the time," Lukas chuckled nervously, ears twitching, tail flicking in agitation.</p><p>"No need to show us the way out," Ivor said with a rather forced smile.</p><p>"W-we're not very, uh, fond of goodbyes," Cassie added in an 'incredibly-forced-cheerful' voice, Winslow hissing at the red-eyed people standing in front of them.</p><p>The red-eyed people started towards them without a word, Jesse pushing back angrily to keep them from grabbing ahold of her- then out of the corner of her eye, Ivor fell backwards- he flinched as one of the chipped people reached down-</p><p>"Wait!" Jesse shouted, drawing all red eyes to her. "Wait, we'll go with you, just- just don't hurt them. Please."</p><p>"Come along," the people spoke again, and they turned, firm grips on their upper arms as they marched out of the house, to whatever in the world PAMA was supposed to be.</p><p>The others all looked at Jesse worriedly. Lukas's tail was bushing out again, Petra's left arm was literally spitting sparks all over the place, Ivor was fidgeting with his sleeve anxiously, and Cassie... well, besides the new claw marks on her beanie, she just looked incredibly nervous.</p><p>"I hope I didn't just make a mistake," Jesse whispered to them, her lower arms starting to weave agitatedly.</p><p>"So do I," Cassie whispered back anxiously.</p><p>Which really didn't help Jesse's fraying nerves.</p><hr/><p>The red-eyed people had led them to a sort of podium, and then moved back to stand guard at the staircase- presumably so they couldn't run away.</p><p>Jesse looked around curiously. "Wonder what we're here foAH!"</p><p>Jesse jumped back at the sight of a huge sort of green screen starting to light up. She wasn't the only one- Petra was emitting a large spray of red-hot sparks, Lukas's tail was standing on end again, Ivor looked rather nervous, and Cassie had backed up about twenty steps, Winslow clawing furiously at her beanie and spitting.</p><p>In front of the screen were crowds and crowds of red-eyed people, staring up at the podium as if they were guest speakers.</p><p>"Wh-what is that thing?" Lukas asked, his incredibly busy tail sweeping through the air nervously, flicking and undulating and curling.</p><p>A face seemed to slam into being on the screen, a very simplistic one- two vertical lines for the eyes and a horizontal line for the mouth. "I have no idea," Petra said, sounding as faint as any of them had ever heard her.</p><p>"You don't suppose it's friendly, do you?" Ivor asked, sounding equally faint.</p><p>Cassie looked at him with a flat look. "What, you mean the thing that's chipped every citizen and brainwashed them into doing its bidding? Yeah, it's probably filled with rainbows and kittens and crap like that."</p><p>"Cassie."</p><p>"Sorry."</p><p>The face was smiling now, and Lukas said, nervously, "Well, I guess, it <em>is</em>, kind of friendly looking... in a massively, hugely-intimidating sort of way."</p><p>Jesse actually nearly choked at that. Gosh darn it, they could probably be in a life-threatening situation and Lukas could just make one odd comment and make the girl just die laughing. At least their opponents would have less work to do.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm gonna guess a 'no' on the friendly thing as well," Jesse said, looking up at the face on the screen. "Whatever it is, I have a feeling it's behind all this."</p><p>"My apologies for the violent nature of this visit," the computer-y thingy said, its face changing to match the... um, 'emotions' it was feeling.</p><p>"I am PAMA. Greetings."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0125"><h2>125. Control</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"We have much work ahead of us," PAMA continued, the... um, 'facial' expressions still changing, "but maybe it can even be... fun!"</p><p>"Um, sorry if this is a dumb question," Jesse raised her voice so that 'PAMA' could hear, "but- am I talking to PAMA right now? What IS PAMA?"</p><p>"Some might call me a computer," PAMA started immediately, "a thinking machine," and then an 'eyebrow' rose from one of the eyes. Yeesh, talk about weird. "Though there has never been a computer quite like me. My job is to be useful."</p><p>Jesse blinked.</p><p>"Using redstone chips," PAMA said, 'smiling', "I have connected to the people of this town and helped them be useful. Coordinated. I have made their world perfect. Thanks to me, there is no wasted activity. No wasted thought."</p><p>"Um, hang on, I've seen these people- these monsters- and I just gotta say, your idea of 'perfect' is a little warped," Jesse said, raising her upper arm shyly.</p><p>PAMA's face went deadpan, before suddenly there was a loud static noise and PAMA spoke as a "..." appeared on its screen. "Processing information..."</p><p>Lukas looked downright bewildered. "Processing information?" he wondered.</p><p>Ivor shrugged, scratching his head slightly. "It did say it's a 'thinking machine'... thinking must take time?"</p><p>PAMA's face came back on, although it was not a very pleased face. "Oh joy, I think we might've ticked off the computer," Cassie remarked sarcastically.</p><p>"No, ya think?" Lukas hissed, tail twitching.</p><p>"I have consulted my database," PAMA spoke over them, voice echoing in the silence, "my list of everyone and everything in this world- and my conclusion is that you are not from here. I would like to ask you some questions- to expand my databanks. How did you get here? I am very excited for the acquisition of new knowledge."</p><p>Jesse thought about staying silent, but that was probably not a good idea, pissing off the computer that controlled every living being in... 'Crown Mesa'. "Um... we... walked here," she said, slowly.</p><p>Well that was true.</p><p>PAMA's face flickered to an angry one. "That is not a helpful answer. So far your performance in question-answering has been inadequate. This makes me sad. Now I must use alternative methods to retrieve my new information."</p><p>"I don't like the sound of that," Cassie said, softly, as Winslow let out a sort of whine, "I <em>really</em> don't like the sound of that."</p><p>"Jesse!" Petra suddenly yelled, as a villager grabbed her and started hauling her away. Lukas whirled around, eyes wide. "Petra!" More villagers grabbed each of them, even Cassie (Winslow burrowed back under her beanie), who looked as though she'd like to smack them in the face with the sharp end of her axe.</p><p>"We could have just talked this out, you know," PAMA spoke calmly.</p><p>Jesse shook her head furiously, whipping back around to the computer. "<em>No no no</em> wait I'll tell you whatever you wanna know, just please don't hurt them!" she yelled, voice going a full octave higher and cracking.</p><p>"I think I've said this before, but you have a saving-people thing," Lukas whispered.</p><p>Jesse glanced at Lukas. "Um, thanks?"</p><p>"If you die because of said saving-people thing, we're all gonna murder you."</p><p>Jesse decided not to respond, especially when everyone nodded in agreement.</p><p>The villager holding Petra came to an abrupt stop, and turned her back around. "I am looking forward to hearing this new information," PAMA spoke, in its stupid robotic voice. "Please do not lie."</p><p>Jesse and the others all shared a panicked look.</p><p>"This world reached peak efficiency quite some time ago," PAMA spoke, "unfortunately, this meant that I had no more job to do. No more things or people to help. Until YOU arrived, that is. Tell me, what is YOUR world like?"</p><p>"It's, um, greener than this place," Jesse said.</p><p>Cassie gave her a sort of 'really?' look.</p><p>"What? It is! Imagine, um, grass and trees instead of sand and clay."</p><p>PAMA smiled, which was super creepy. "That sounds lovely. That really does. I think I would like to see this world for myself. If I could send my townspeople, my friends, through to other worlds, we could continue to grow and expand. It would be lovely. However you entered this world, there must also be an exit. Where is it?"</p><p>"Well," Jesse said nervously, shuffling her feet- her upper arms were getting kind of sore from behind held behind her. "As a matter of fact, we're all looking for the exit portal, too. Not that... we've had much luck so far..."</p><p>"If you find it, let us know, will you?" Ivor asked, a bit sardonically.</p><p>"This conversation was supposed to be about what you know, not about information I already have," PAMA said, flatly- if a computer could... say things flatly.</p><p>"Well, you're not asking the right questions then, I could tell you much more stuff if you'd asked different questions," Jesse snapped, a bit sarcastically.</p><p>PAMA ignored her little breach of courtesy, which Jesse breathed a sigh of relief at. "My job is to be useful. I have completed my job here and must be allowed to expand and continue to be useful. Unfortunately, our conversation has not been helpful.</p><p>Sh!t.</p><p>"Let me go!" Lukas yelled, struggling a bit as Petra was shoved over to a sort of machine that was on the podium behind them.</p><p>Jesse felt her stomach fall into the bottoms of her feet.</p><p>"Jesse-" Petra yelled, just as the machine slammed down in front of her head.</p><p>"<strong><em>NO!</em></strong>" Jesse yelled, struggling, eyes going wide.</p><p>"Welcome, Petra," PAMA stated calmly, as the machine moved away, revealing Petra's gold eyes to be a dull, monotonous red. "Yay."</p><p>Jesse struggled even harder as PAMA spoke, but she wasn't paying attention to the stupid computer, she was staring at Petra, standing there like a robot, while Lukas squirmed and kicked and thrashed as he was shoved to the machine. "<em>Lukas!</em>"</p><p>"J-"</p><p>The machine came down. Moments later, it came back up with a loud hissing sound.</p><p>And Lukas's eyes were no longer blue-green, no longer held that spark of the ocelot hybrid who loved to be petted all the time.</p><p>He was gone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0126"><h2>126. Paradoxical</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Jesse," Ivor said, his usually hushed voice in a sort of squeak, "this situation is looking a little dire, don't you think?"</p><p>"A 'little' is putting it far too calmly," Cassie said, her own expression faintly panicked.</p><p>Jesse came to a stop in front of Petra, who started speaking. The voice that came out of Petra's mouth made chills go shooting up Jesse's spine. Hell, it made her spine freeze over altogether!</p><p>"Don't worry, Jesse. It doesn't hurt," PAMA-Petra spoke, voice echoing and sounding like Petra's... yet <em>not.</em></p><p>"Welcome, Lukas," PAMA stated, as the ocelot hybrid stood in front of Jesse. His tail wasn't even twitching. It was just... blank. "Yay!"</p><p>"Your turn, Jesse," PAMA spoke.</p><p>Jesse struggled as her two friends grabbed ahold of her. "Get out of their heads!" she yelled, trying to get out of their grip without hurting them.</p><p>"But their heads are full of so much lovely information. It makes me happy. What adventures you've had. A killer mansion..."</p><p>Cassie shifted uncomfortably.</p><p>Suddenly, the computer made a rumbling sound as it began to process the information.</p><p>"Oh, crap, it's gonna figure the three of us are hybrids," Jesse grumbled. And then a thought occurred to her, and she glanced at Ivor and Cassie, who were kind of being held against their will nearby. "Every time PAMA gets new information, it seems to get a bit distracted while it 'processes' it."</p><p>"Yes," Ivor agreed, also in a rather hushed voice, "like a computer version of thinking."</p><p>"There's gotta be a way for us to distract it long enough for us to escape," Cassie said thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes at the "..." on the screen.</p><p>"A city in the sky... towns and mountains, eaten by a living storm..." More processing sounds.</p><p>Jesse stared at PAMA, before a small smirk came across her face, and she glanced at Ivor. "D- Ivor, remember one of our favorite activities back in the lab?"</p><p>Ivor stared uncomprehendingly at the raven-haired girl for a moment, before an identical smirk sneaked across his face. "Ah, yes. Riddles, logic puzzles, and paradoxes. Your favorite type."</p><p>"Yes!" Cassie whispered, green eyes lighting up, "we'll just ask PAMA something really confusing, get it all busy busy, and then hightail it out of here!"</p><p>"So, we need a paradox- a self-contradictory statement," Jesse said, casting back through her mind for a good one. It was hard; she hadn't had time to tell Ivor riddles or paradoxes in a long time.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>"Jesse, I have a good one."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid looked down at Ivor from where she was hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Her fluffy black hair was trailing straight down. "I wanna hear it!" she said, cheerfully.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor smirked at her and then said, calmly, "What I'm saying is a lie."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse clapped her hands together after a couple moments of thought. "Ooh, that's a good one!" she thought for a second, and then clapped again. "Ooh! I think I have one!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ivor smiled at the little girl's enthusiasm. "Let's hear it," he said, putting his hands on his knees and giving the little girl his full attention.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse beamed before stating her little paradox. "Trust me: trust no one!"</em>
</p><hr/><p>"Yes! I think that might work on PAMA!" Cassie agreed.</p><p>"What might work on me?"</p><p>All three of them looked at PAMA, before Jesse smirked and raised her voice. "Hey- PAMA! Trust me when I tell you: trust no one," she spoke, slowly enunciating her words.</p><p>PAMA's suspicioius look changed to a befuddled one, and then the "..." appeared on its screen.</p><p>"So, if I trust you, I should not trust anyone. But if I do not trust anyone, I do should not trust you." A question mark appeared on the screen.</p><p>"It's working!" Ivor and Cassie chorused, barely able to keep their voice quiet.</p><p>"So I should not follow your advice, and therefore not trust anyone. Meaning I should trust you, when you say trust no one." Smoke went hissing out of the screen, PAMA getting an even more confused look. "Error. This data is contradictory." And then the screen started flickering and spazzing out. "Does not not not not compute. Error. Diverting power."</p><p>Petra and Lukas released Jesse, as the other villagers released Ivor and Cassie.</p><p>"Nice work, new guys!" Jesse looked up at the figure of the woman standing about fifty feet away- the woman from the house earlier!</p><p>Cassie had a bit of a scowl on her face.</p><p>"But I'd get out of there fast if I were you- PAMA's a quicker learner than you'd think!"</p><p>Jesse nodded and started rushing down the steps while they weren't occupied, Ivor and Cassie quick to follow. "Paradox status: on hold," PAMA spoke, making another loud beeping sound, before it spotted Harper, and a happy look appeared on its face. "Gasp! My Creator! Have you finally agreed to merge with me!"</p><p>The momentary distraction gave the three of them (four if you counted the little bundle of calico fur under Cassie's beanie) enough time to make it to the bottom of the steps, the woman making an annoyed sound and Cassie muttering something very uncomplimentary under her breath. "Oh don't you start that again! Come on, you three! This way!"</p><p>Jesse did some quick calculating. "Ivor! On my back!"She quickly unfastened the cloak, tossing it back to Cassie, who wadded it up and shoved it into her pocket.</p><p>Ivor hopped on, locking into place, Jesse tossing Cassie an Ender Pearl. "Don't waste it," she instructed the girl, who nodded and put it in her pocket. "<em>Go go go!</em>" And she leapt down from the stairs, landing hard on the ground and scrambling away, all eight limbs engaging in movement as Petra and Lukas slammed into the ground behind them, now in hot pursuit. Literally, since Ivor flattened himself against Jesse's back as a fireball flew over his head.</p><p>Cassie did a perfect parkour roll, a complaining meow from Winslow: "Sorry Winslow!" and bolted after them, Lukas in hot pursuit, tail flapping as he raced after the red-haired girl.</p><p>Jesse raced up a wall, lunging to the side of some villagers and raced up the wall and into a room, where one of the villagers stumbled towards her and Ivor-</p><p>Cassie slammed into the villager from the side, knocking them sideways and giving Jesse a moment to react. Jesse jumped out the window and onto a nearby roof, Cassie following a bit more awkwardly, as they looked around at the crowd of villagers approaching them, from both above and below.</p><p>Jesse jumped into the air, did a rapid flip, landed back on all eights on the ground, Cassie doing a parkour roll as well, and veered back to run out of the town the way they came- except now several zombies were blocking their way. Terrific.</p><p>Jesse skidded to a stop just in time, whirled around- wait, no, the villagers were back that way- whirled around again and ran perpendicular to the attacking force, only to skid to a stop again above a large chasm.</p><p>Cassie whipped out her Ender Pearl, and looked at Jesse questioningly. Jesse looked down the chasm, before giving Cassie an awkward thumbs up. "I should be fine- you get down there quick!"</p><p>And with that Jesse crawled over the edge and travelled straight down the side of the chasm, Ivor holding her shoulders so tightly it actually hurt through her armor. Out of the corner of her peripheral vision, an Ender Pearl flew past her head and headed straight for the ground, Jesse calculating the last ten feet being safe to jump down and doing so, sprawling on her stomach as she did so. "Ouch," she complained, spitting out the mouthful of sand she'd nearly swallowed, Ivor being hasty to climb off and swat off some of the sand.</p><p>"It's a good thing I got used to that, otherwise I think my face would've gotten decorated with more scratches," Cassie sighed, dusting off some of the sand that had sprayed all over her socks and shorts.</p><p>"Mmph," Jesse nodded, spitting out more sand and dusting off her tongue. "Ugh, I think I've eaten enough sand in one lifetime."</p><p>"Ha!" the woman said, skidding to a stop in front of them and making all three of them jump, "maybe you've got a shot after all, Jesse, Cassie, and... new guy. Better stick with me, though!"</p><p>"Wow, she is amazing," Ivor said, cheerfully, before his eyes widened. "Oh no-"</p><p>"Run?" Cassie asked tiredly, crossing her arms.</p><p>"Run," Jesse agreed, so that's what they did.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0127"><h2>127. Big Differences</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The four of them raced across the desert landscape, Jesse racing across the ground on all eights, Winslow still burrowed under Cassie's beanie, and Ivor a little after them.</p><p>Jesse skidded to a stop just in time as the woman jumped into a hole, Ivor falling in and landing on his stomach with a loud "Oof!" and Cassie following suit a second later, landing right on top of Ivor. Winslow let out a yelp of complaint, and Cassie winced as the lump under her hat spasmed a bit.</p><p>"Ouch," Jesse winced.</p><p>"A signal would've been nice," Ivor groaned up at the woman, rather sarcastically.</p><p>"Gotta tell you guys," Harper said, Jesse hopping into the hole as well, "that was some pretty smart work distracting PAMA. Now we just need to get off the grid. Get back into hiding- that way we can figure out what to do next."</p><p>Cassie scowled at the woman. "We don't need any help from <em>you</em>," she snapped.</p><p>"Rose? We kind of do. That machine's got our friends, and I have no idea how to stop it. Unless you have an idea?" Jesse asked, panting a little bit. Her arms were literally covered with sand that she was forcibly shaking off. If they got out of this alive, Jesse never wanted to see sand ever again.</p><p>Cassie's hard gaze softened, and she looked down at the floor. Jesse gave her a raised eyebrow.</p><p>Cassie noticed, and mouthed a 'Later' to Jesse, who reluctantly let the matter go for now.</p><p>"I still might be able to save them," the woman said, before frowning. "But I <em>really </em>need your help."</p><p>Jesse glanced back at the monsters milling around above them, before back at the white-haired woman. "What... kind of help?" she asked, slowly.</p><p>"We need to get to my secret lab," the woman said, a bit more matter-of-factly than just now.</p><p>Jesse glanced up at the zombies, then back down at her and the others. "Well, let's get there FAST- these zombies aren't just stronger than any I've ever seen, they're also faster."</p><p>The woman hesitated, before speaking up. "We'll need to split up- you head to the lab, while I lead these mobs away, got it? I'll use the back route- throw 'em off our trail."</p><p>Cassie stepped closer to the woman, eyes narrowing. "Listen to me for a second here- if you try to get out of helping Jesse and us, so help me I will gut you like a fish."</p><p>The woman winced a little bit under Cassie's bloodred gaze.</p><p>Jesse scratched her head, giving a weak cough to break the awkward silence. "O-okay, you're sure you'll be fine?" she addressed the woman.</p><p>"Yes, of course. Just start walking that way," she hopped out of the hole, and started running in the opposite direction of where she'd just pointed. "And look for the 'big difference'- you'll see it!"</p><p>As all the mobs went chasing after her, Jesse gave Cassie and Ivor a baffled look. "Either of you have any idea what that meant?"</p><p>They both shook their heads, before hopping out of the hole and bolting in the direction the woman had pointed. "She is... intriguingly cryptic, isn't she?" Ivor huffed.</p><p>Jesse shrugged a bit at that, before narrowing her eyes. "Waiiit a second..."</p><p>Ahead of them was a sort of... painting? Was it a painting?</p><p>Ivor slammed full-force into it and stumbled back with a pained yelp, clutching his face. Okay, apparently it was. "It's... like an exact copy," he grunted, rubbing his face in slight pain, before frowning. "Or is it? Seems just a bit... off."</p><p>Jesse poked her head around the painting, looking around curiously as Cassie kept watch. "I don't see any mobs... yet. I don't think," she reported, squinting.</p><p>Jesse stepped back and off to the side, looking at the painting and then at the landscape. "Huh- <em>that</em> cactus isn't in the painting." And she trotted over to it, Ivor following.</p><p>Jesse heard a loud, rather loud expletive, and looked over her shoulder- and then groaned as she saw what Cassie had just cursed at. There was a group of monsters (skeletons, zombies, those two) coming towards them, and coming fast.</p><p>Jesse veered around the cactus to find a trap door. "Okay, let's see what this does!" And she yanked open the trap doors to find a lever, which one of her lower arms yanked upwards.</p><p>A loud rumbling sound, as blocks thundered down from the landscape beside them to reveal a large, gaping hole.</p><p>Cassie crossed her arms, looking impressed against her will. "Huh. I guess she didn't lose her affinity for redstone." Her expression softened- just a bit, mind you, not very much, but it did soften.</p><p>They all bolted for the hole, Jesse stopping and peering for the edge.</p><p>"Hope you've got an idea for what comes next." Ivor was looking over his shoulder and back at Jesse so fast it looked a little ridiculous, dark blue eyes filled with worry.</p><p>Jesse squinted down into the hole. "Working on it..." she spotted the smallest pool of water that led into a sort of stream, right at the bottom. "Um, I see water- we can aim for that!" she reported to the two of them.</p><p>Jesse tensed her lower legs, before jumping, the exhilarating feeling of air rushing past her and making her hair whip around in her face greeting her, as Ivor and Cassie followed, Jesse squeezing her eyes shut-</p><p>SPLASH.</p><p>Jesse let out a gasp as her head bobbed out of the water, which was pleasantly cool, and honestly, the first sign of water she'd seen in AGES since getting here. Climbing out of the little pool and watching as Cassie splashed down, climbing out with a soaking wet Winslow sitting in her arms, not looking too pleased, and then Ivor, in rapid succession.</p><p>Jesse walked forward a couple steps, looking around her as Winslow shook himself off, spraying his owner with water and making Cassie chuckle faintly, all of them looking around the sort of cavern they'd landed in- as several mobs rained down from the hole above, missing the water altogether and smashing into dust.</p><p>"Looks like PAMA's throwing everything it's got at us," Ivor said quietly.</p><p>A zombie landed with a sort of bump on a cobweb nearby, standing back up and lurching towards them.</p><p>"Oh- crap, brace yourself!" Jesse yelped, as the zombie bore down on her, before all six of her arms reacted and she shoved the zombie forcefully backwards, upon which it tripped and fell into the pool of water. Sparks and little bolts of electricity shot everywhere, before the chip on the back of the zombie's head shot off several fee, landing on the ground nearby, and the zombie came back out, its eyes back to emptiness.</p><p>"Its eyes changed!" Cassie pointed out, a now rather fluffy-and-damp Winslow sitting in her arms. "The minute it hit the water!"</p><p>Jesse shot her d- <em>mentor </em>a teasing look. "Hey, Ivor, dare ya to poke it."</p><p>Ivor just gave the spider hybrid a rather amused look. "No thank you. Even though it does look completely shut down."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0128"><h2>128. Teasing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Huh," Jesse said, putting her hands on her hips, "the water must've busted the connection, or something- like washing away the redstone."</p><p>Ivor's eyes lit up. "Which means PAMA's control CAN be broken, after all!"</p><p>"I've never been so happy to see a normal zombie in my life," Cassie sighed, as Jesse dodged to the side and-</p><p>A rotted hand swung up at her face, and Jesse just reacted- she bit down sharply on the hand.</p><p>A nasty taste filled her mouth, the taste of rotted flesh- before a different taste crept into her mouth. Sickly sweet...</p><p>Jesse spit, the zombie falling backwards and exploding into dust as a dark, muddy red substance spattered all over the floor and the rotten flesh that had just appeared.</p><p>"I didn't know you'd mastered the use of your venom, Jesse," Ivor said, sounding rather impressed.</p><p>Jesse spit again, getting some more of the goo out of her mouth. "Neither did I."</p><p>"So if we just chuck water all over Lukas and Petra's chips," Cassie reasoned, although she was now looking at the poison rather nervously, "we can get them back to normal, too!"</p><p>More monster sounds as they learned to land on the cobwebs. Jesse groaned and slingshotted two webs at them, sending them flying into the water as Cassie whipped out her axe. Another motion of her hand, and the cobweb that had formed vanished, landing in her hand. "Not that it'll stop the spiders, if PAMA's got any of those, or Petra, or Lukas, but hey, at least we don't have most other super-mobs invading, right?" Jesse sighed, retracting the webs and throwing them into the water as Cassie wreaked havoc on the skeleton and zombie that had fallen in.</p><p>"Okay, now what?" Jesse asked, flatly.</p><p>"Now, we block up the entrance!" And Cassie sheathed her axe, eyes going back to normal (gosh, that really was a bit creepy) as she went and toggled a lever nearby.</p><p>A loud rumbling, as pistons shifted aside, and a wall of sand fell from the ceiling, Ivor scurrying over to where Jesse and Cassie were standing, hundreds of sand blocks falling from the ceiling and forming a large wall that blocked entry. For now, anyway.</p><p>"Okay, that's most of the mobs taken care of," Jesse sighed, rubbing her head, "let's go see about the 'secret lab'."</p><p>"I just hope whatever's there can help us," Ivor mumbled, turning around and starting to walk along the sort of 'hallway.' "It would make helping Petra and Lukas a lot easier if there's something useful at this secret lab."</p><p>Jesse smirked a little bit at that. "Awww, you love us," she teased.</p><p>"No I don't!" Ivor said, his face turning faintly pink.</p><p>"Well, even if the lab is a bust, what we just learned about water disabling PAMA's chips is super useful," Cassie said, trying not to laugh at the little interaction between the dark-haired mentor and pupil.</p><p>"That kind of reminds me, what's your deal with her? The woman who built PAMA?" Jesse asked, looking at Cassie, noticing the small smile falling almost instantly.</p><p>Cassie was quiet, before sighing. "Well, you remember me leaving, right?"</p><p>"You and your aunt? Yeah, barely. Why?"</p><p>"Well, my aunt died six years later. She wasn't the healthiest person, she got <em>sick. </em>If that-" Cassie made a huffing sound, "if she'd just- convinced my aunt to stay, then maybe she would've gotten to a doctor or something in time and maybe she'd still be alive. Maybe the <em>Old Builders</em>," she spoke those two words as if they were sheer poison on her tongue, "would still have six members rather than only <em>five.</em>" And she kicked moodily at the ground.</p><p>Jesse was quiet for a moment, before reaching out and squeezing Cassie's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," she said, sincerely.</p><p>Cassie glared at the ground, her glare barely softening, before she looked away. "Yeah, well... it doesn't really matter anymore. I'm just not very good at forgiving people," she spoke shortly.</p><p>Ivor was silent for a moment, before saying rather lightly, "I must say, that woman has been a most intriguing person so far. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of her."</p><p>Jesse gave Ivor a mischievous grin. "'Intriguing', Ivor? Why, whatever do you mean by that?" she asked, teasingly</p><p>"I- what? It's nothing," Ivor said, cheeks turning faintly pink, "I just mean that I can empathize when it comes to your creations getting out of hand. N-nothing more."</p><p>"Ahem," said a familiar voice, making Ivor jump six feet into the air, "careful with all that sputtering. You'll swallow your beard."</p><p>Jesse and Cassie both fell over, howling with laughter, while even Winslow seemed to snigger as Ivor's face turned ten more shades of red. "I- what? What'd you hear? It was nothing!"</p><p>The woman laughed, coming over to them from where she'd been standing. "Nice to see you, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse giggled as she stood back up, dusting her pants off. "Yeah, this is Ivor, and I think you know Cassie. Our friends that we left back there," her smile faded a bit, "are Petra and Lukas." She hesitated, before tilting your head, "and, I'm sorry, your name is...?"</p><p>"You can call me Harper," the woman said calmly, glancing at Cassie a bit nervously. Cassie just looked away, finding the cave ceiling very interesting.</p><p>"You could also explain why you lead PAMA's forces straight to my secret lab," Harper added, a bit of an annoyed expression coming over her face. "Seems to me I've got a whole lot of angry-computer-controlled monsters out there waiting to tear some new holes in my lab."</p><p>Jesse winced with a soft, sheepish laugh. "Ahaha, sorry about that. I didn't expect them to start following us. But at least only the spiders and our friends can make it through, now. Lukas knows how to ride spiders, so he could probably manage that..." Jesse tapped her lip before banishing the thought, it wasn't a pleasant one.</p><p>"Ah, it's not your fault," Harper said, waving it off, "I'm just a bit steamed. I didn't know PAMA would actually be able to follow us. What're you doing in this world anyway? You here to try to steal my secrets?"</p><p>"Of course not!"</p><p>"No!"</p><p>Jesse and Ivor spoke at the same time, sharply. Cassie shook her head rather quickly as well.</p><p>Harper just gave them a squint, before shrugging and turning around. "Just figured I'd ask- better safe than sorry and all that."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0129"><h2>129. You've Got Some Explaining To Do</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You all are the first people I've seen come out of the portal network in forever," Harper continued, as they all hurried to follow, Cassie dropping behind a bit more than the others. So you'll have to excuse me if it made me a little... anxious."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Oh... yeah, Cassie's aunt was an Old Builder. I forgot. I guess that means you're one of them too?"</p><p>Harper let out a little laugh. "Huh, forgot you people called us that. Never was my favorite name."</p><p>"None of you really liked it. I think my aunt threw a pie at someone who called her that one time," Cassie said thoughtfully.</p><p>"Yeah, it makes you guys sound ancient. But hey, if you're an... um, Old Builder, can't you help my friends get free of PAMA?" Jesse asked, hopefully, lower arms fidgeting and steepling her fingers.</p><p>Harper winced. "I'm afraid that's a <em>little</em> out of my abilities right now. PAMA's just too powerful." A short silence. "And besides... there's actually no exit portal back to the portal network from this world."</p><p>"Probably a good idea seeing how PAMA wants to, ah, make everyone 'useful'," Cassie spoke drily. Winslow gave his female owner a funny look.</p><p>"Yes. It was impulsive, but it was the only way I could think of to make sure PAMA didn't spread to other worlds."</p><p>"Ah." Jesse cut Ivor off with a little look, and then asked, in a would-be casual voice, "So, ah, why didn't you stay at the lab? The scientists got a bit more..." Jesse went silent for a moment as she remembered one of the more violent 'tests'. Suffice to say it involved a lot of electricity, pain, and screaming. "... brutal, without you guys around."</p><p>Harper rubbed her head. "Well, I never really liked the things they were doing in the first place with the hybrids- I would've just been happy to see the hybrids survive beyond day one, to be honest. I guess after we left, we told the scientists to keep up the work and report back to us, but... we were a little hasty and brought most of the best ones with us. I guess with the best ones out of the way, the others got down to more... primitive measures."</p><p>"Mm."</p><p>"The last report we got was... about ten or eleven years ago, I think. The remaining scientists alerted us that the hybrids had escaped. I mean, I knew they made more, but I didn't know what species they were or what they looked like. I guess that was why I was so surprised when I saw the ocelot and the Blaze hybrid," Harper finished thoughtfully. "They also alerted us that they activated the memory chips. I guess after ten years of no upkeep or usage, the memory chips started malfunctioning."</p><p>"Well, that was informative," Jesse said lightly, after a couple moments, as if she hadn't just gotten one of the biggest shocks of her life at the confirmation that the Old Builders had actually been INVOLVED with the hybrids. Almost directly, too. "So... PAMA. What is it?"</p><p>Harper winced as she turned around, all of them slowing to a stop. Cassie had set Winslow down on the ground, and he now sat down and purred pleasantly. "I swear, I made PAMA with good intentions. It was designed to help automate things. Make everything more efficient. Use monsters to help with farming or mining..."</p><p>"I'm guessing that PAMA decided that the townspeople themselves weren't efficient enough?" Ivor asked, with a slight frown.</p><p>"Right in one. Started making <em>them</em> 'useful.' That happened about... five, six years ago? Since then I've just been trying to stay one step ahead. Trying to figure out how to stop it," and Harper started walking again, a slightly sour look on her face.</p><p>"When we were back in town, PAMA seemed to really wanna capture you," Cassie said, arms crossed, "why's that?"</p><p>"When PAMA chips someone, everything that person knows gets absorbed into its database," Harper began to explain.</p><p>Jesse nodded with a slightly solemn look on her face. "Right, I kinda guessed when PAMA started talking about our adventures."</p><p>Harper nodded and continued, "If <em>I</em> got chipped... PAMA would know how to build an exit portal."</p><p>Cassie stood up ramrod straight, green eyes flickering red. "Oh <em>hell</em> no."</p><p>Jesse frowned, red eye glowing a bit. "Hmph. Yeah, I can see why you'd try to avoid that at all costs," and she shuddered a bit at the thought of Axel or Olivia getting chipped. Or Soren. Or Ivor. Or... well, all her friends really.</p><p>"I do think I can help you," Harper spoke up, nodding, "with PAMA, your friends, getting out of here... but to do it we're gonna need to go to my lab."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "What's in your lab?"</p><p>Harper made a sort of thinking face- it was rather similar to the one Ivor made, actually. Her lips twisted a little and a thoughtful, dazed look came into their eyes. And you'd basically have to shove them to get any response. "It's... complicated."</p><p>Jesse's jaw fell open as they headed to a beautifully lit room, with a blocked door and... well, a few channels of water. The floor was made of glass. "Before we head inside, we'd better activate the defense system- don't want any of those chipped up creeps following us inside."</p><p>And she strolled over to a lever on the wall, flipping it and making a cauldron shoot up out of the floor. "Grab my bucket for me?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder, "Ron's got it."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Ron?"</p><p>They went over to a sort of thing with a creeper head, and a bucket of water. "Hello, friend Harper!" it spoke, making Jesse jump and hug onto Ivor with a little hiss of fright. Cassie coughed. She had a completely blank face, which made Jesse fairly certain the red-haired girl was trying not to laugh. "I am happy to see you, my friend!"</p><p>Jesse slowly climbed off, still a bit shivery. "O... kay."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0130"><h2>130. Now She Has to Choose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Harper?" Cassie asked slowly, all four heads- including Winslow's- slowly swiveling to face the Old Builder.</p><p>Harper shot them a sheepish look. "Hey, don't you judge me. Being alone gets lonely," the white-haired woman said defensively.</p><p>"You're telling me," Cassie huffed.</p><p>Jesse shrugged and her lower arms reached out, taking ahold of the bucket. The moment 'Ron' relinquished it, Jesse nearly fumbled and dropped it- that water bucket was <em>heavy</em>.</p><p>"Happy to help, friend!" Ron said.</p><p>Jesse blinked again, before deciding to ignore it and return the water bucket to Harper. Harper smiled a bit, taking the bucket. "Thanks. See, I needed a way to confuse PAMA in case it ever found a way down here. That's why all this is way more complicated than it needs to be."</p><p>"Oh. That makes sense," Jesse said thoughtfully, as Harper strolled over to the cauldron and upended the bucket, splashing water into the cauldron. A section of the floor glowed brightly, illuminating that corner, as streams of water poured down from the ceiling, and the pistons blocking the doorway slid to the side.</p><p>Jesse shot Ivor a smile, and went back over to Harper, who was stooping down to get some more water. "Wow. What a builder," Ivor said softly.</p><p>"Hm, I think you find more than just her building impressive, hmmm?" Cassie hummed, giving Ivor a teasing grin, crossing her arms at him.</p><p>Ivor scowled at the red-haired girl. "I liked it better when you were all quiet and shy around us."</p><p>Jesse smirked, trying not to outright laugh, and put her hands on her hips. "So you know about PAMA's weakness to water, then?" she asked, mildly, looking around at the water pouring from the ceiling.</p><p>"Yeah, I do. I'll admit you figured it out way faster than I did, though," Harper said, giving the spider hybrid a small smile. "Once PAMA caught on to its weakness to water-" she stood up, still holding the bucket and beginning to walk off, Jesse trailing after her, "it started eliminating as much of this world's water as it could find. This water that's down here? It might be all that's left."</p><p>Jesse frowned- just as the whole tunnel shook. Looks as though Petra and Lukas got down here.</p><p>Cassie proceeded to swear so badly that even Winslow gave her an admonishing look.</p><p>"I hate to take a leaf out of Cassie's book, but <em>damn!</em>" Jesse snapped.</p><p>Harper looked horrified. "I still need to activate the other cauldrons!" she cried, before looking to Jesse and Cassie. "Hold them off to buy me more time!" She ran towards another cauldron, before pausing and looking back at Jesse. "And whatever you do, don't get caught- I'm not about to get left alone again."</p><p>Cassie whipped out her axe, backing her and Ivor into a corner. "Jesse, you're more able to keep them back than I am- I'll just watch to make sure none of us get hurt!"</p><p>Jesse nodded, her lower arms absentmindedly whirling out an axe and a pickaxe, body automatically shifting into a defensive position.</p><p>"You could've made this much easier for yourself," Petra-PAMA spoke, her, Lukas, and several spiders marching around the corner.</p><p>Jesse gave the spiders a funny look, before returning her attention to Petra- and then diving to her left. A fireball shot over her head, which Cassie smacked down into a nearby wall, where it flamed out. Lukas's claws unsheathed, and Jesse looked back to Petra as she whipped out her sword, fire beginning to flicker along the blade.</p><p>Jesse could've happily cursed her tongue off. "Why did PAMA have to be so damn <em>smart</em>?" she groaned, before sticking her tongue out. "Get out of their heads, you- you- you oversized hunk of metal and redstone!" Jesse yelled. It was the first insult that popped to mind and admittedly a rather poor one.</p><p>"Your friends," Petra-PAMA spoke calmly, "have been made useful."</p><p>"Dead creepy, that is," Jesse grumbled quietly.</p><p>"You, too, will be made useful."</p><p>Jesse sighed and tensed, getting into a lower position. "You asked for it, PAMA," she said, her voice going much lower and her eyes glowing bloodred.</p><p>"There!"</p><p>Jesse glanced over to see Harper dumping another bucketful of water down. Lukas casually hopped out of the way as a column of water splashed down where he'd just been, and on Ivor, soaking him.</p><p>He spit out a little spout of water, as Cassie blinked water out of her eyes and Winslow hissed angrily. "Er... thanks?" he asked, poking his head out of the water, his black hair shiny and flat.</p><p>"I did not need a bath right now," Cassie crabbed gently, smacking a spider with her axe and knocking it back.</p><p>Jesse whirled on the spot, slashing out with her sword and slamming a spider backwards, sending it flying through one of the waterfalls. It spasmed, small arcs of lightning lighting up the area, before the redstone chip sailed off, and it looked at Jesse.</p><p>"<em>Help the red-haired girl and the black-haired guy in the corner NOW!</em>" Jesse hissed, her chest humming angrily as she spoke. The spider scuttled off to go help in whatever way it could. Jesse whirled back around to block a fiery sword hit from Petra's sword, which literally sent sparks flying as it grated on Jesse's enchanted blade, making Jesse skid backwards a step.</p><p>Jesse skipped back a step and flicked out with the flat side of her axe, which Petra responded to by firing a fireball-</p><p>Jesse instinctively ducked, and the sound of something sharp swiping over her head met her ears. She twisted to see Lukas stagger a bit, caught off guard, and kicked backwards reflexively into his legs, knocking him forward and sending the ocelot hybrid toppling straight into the Blaze hybrid, who staggered a bit before regaining her balance, helping him back up.</p><p>"Here goes another one!"</p><p>And several more waterfalls poured down from the ceiling, Jesse dodging to the left quickly to avoid getting soaked.</p><p>"End of the line, Jesse," both Petra and Lukas spoke simultaneously, in the creepy PAMA voice, both of them advancing on her at the same time. Jesse looked desperately to Cassie, but she had her hands full trying to handle some of the spiders that were crawling at her and Ivor and Winslow.</p><p>Jesse turned back to her two friends. Some of the best friends she'd ever had, really. And really, some of the only friends she'd had for a very, very long time. An ocelot, and a Blaze. The few people for whom Jesse would do anything, and she really did mean <em>anything.</em></p><p>Now she had to choose between them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0131"><h2>131. Choice Made</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse looked between the blonde, then at the redhead. The blonde, and the redhead. Blonde, red. Ocelot, Blaze.</p><p>Putting away all her weapons, she danced on the balls of her feet, and then she closed her eyes and mentally apologized.</p><p>And then she charged.</p><p>Slamming full-force into Petra, she sent the both of them flying through a waterfall, a sheet of water soaking Jesse and Petra as they both crashed to the floor.</p><p>Petra spasmed with a scream of pain as electricity arced all over her, before the chip went flying backwards and the Blaze hybrid collapsed to the ground, literally steaming and smoking, holding a fiery sword that died down, eyes no longer that dull red but back to their beautiful gold.</p><p>"Jesse?" Petra asked, choking and spitting out some water, "that- that was <em>awful.</em>"</p><p>Jesse had no time to even feel relieved- there was a shout from behind her, and she whipped around to see Ivor furiously pointing over Cassie's shoulder as she slammed spiders away. Jesse's head swiveled to see Lukas walking towards Harper, who was holding a bucket. A determined look came onto her face, and she chucked the bucket over Lukas's head, where it landed with a clank on the ground.</p><p>"I'm coming!" Jesse shouted, running towards Harper.</p><p>Lukas moved- and he moved <em>fast</em>. He jerked the dark-skinned woman over to the wall, hopping onto a spider and locking in place as he held a struggling Harper.</p><p>"<em>No!</em>" Jesse yelled, skidding around and starting towards the wall.</p><p>"Use the headset, Jesse!" Harper barked in a commanding tone, making the spider hybrid automatically skid to a stop as she looked up at her, "and don't forget to the last cauldron!"</p><p>She chucked down something small and red, which Jesse automatically reached out and caught in her lower arms. Upon looking at it, she realized it was a small rose. "And one more thing," Harper added, "get the rose to Harry!"</p><p>Jesse blinked at the rose. "'Harry?'"</p><p>"Come on!" Cassie yelled, voice rising until it was almost a squeak, as Ivor helped Petra to her feet, "do something!"</p><p>Jesse looked around, and ran for the bucket, scooping it up. "Okay, okay okay!" and she dumped the whole thing into the last cauldron, slopping some water over the edges and over her sleeves, but she didn't care, she was looking frantically at the still-mind controlled spiders that were creeping towards her, and then she was turning for the wall of water in front of the doors, scooping up the rose that was on the floor, dropping to all eights, and scrambling through the wave of water, getting even more soaked in the process.</p><p>Stopping just a foot away from the water, she turned and looked over her shoulder. All of the spiders had stopped in their tracks, staring at Jesse through the wall of water. Turning back around, Jesse dropped to all eights again and darted through the double doors, whirling on her heel, standing up, and slamming the doors shut.</p><p>Lukas was still chipped.</p><p>Lukas was...</p><p>Jesse stood there, tears beginning to blur her vision, and she just stood there, fists clenched, head resting against the wood of the door. Her best friend- one of her closest friends in the world- and she hadn't been able to save him. She wasn't fast enough.</p><p>Even with all the training she had, she'd never been fast enough.</p><p>"Harper and Lukas?" Ivor's voice was uncharacteristically soft, hand on her shoulder. She didn't even jump.</p><p>Jesse just lifted her head off the door and shook her head slightly.</p><p>"Darn it," Petra said, from where she was sitting on the floor. Her red hair was slick and shiny from the water, and she was almost curled into a little ball on the floor, looking pale and shaken.</p><p>There was a short silence as everyone stared at the floor, Jesse still staring at the door but not seeing it, not seeing anything but her friend's red eyes.</p><p>"Jesse, I'm- I'm sort of remembering something, from when I was... chipped. It seemed very important to PAMA," Petra spoke, all in a rush all of a sudden.</p><p>Jesse turned slightly, enough so that her red eye showed to all of them.</p><p>"Tall... glowing red lights, but, but I- I can't quite make out what they <em>are</em>..." Petra put a damp hand to her equally damp forehead. "It's... it's like a fuzzy dream, kind of... kind of giving me a headache, but, but I can try to remember it more clearly if you need me to..."</p><p>"Hey, take it easy," Jesse said, going over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "You... you've been through a lot. You're gonna need to rest, okay? When you're ready to think about it, you can go ahead... but don't if it's going to hurt you."</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse," Petra said, gratefully, as Jesse carefully pulled the Blaze hybrid to her feet.</p><p>Jesse took a deep, shuddering breath, crossing her lower arms. "O-okay, we might be down, but we're not out. Harper told us to find her.. headset, whatever that is. We just have to find whatever it is before PAMA chips Harper, and starts downloading her mind."</p><p>"What's so important about this Harper person?" Petra asked, blinking. Oh yeah, she hadn't been there when Harper had explained.</p><p>"She's an Old Builder," Jesse said simply. "She helped build the portal network, which hopefully means that she can help us get home."</p><p>Petra nodded, rubbing her head. "That's a pretty good reason to rescue somebody."</p><p>"Also Ivor has a crush on her," Cassie contributed.</p><p>Ivor's face turned rather hot pink. "What? No. Shut up."</p><p>All of the girls giggled, making Ivor's face turn even brighter pink.</p><p>"I'm sure Jesse wouldn't mind a mum," Cassie added, in a whisper.</p><p>Now Jesse's face was pink. Ivor stared at them in confusion as the two redheads giggled and Jesse crossed all of her arms with a slight, embarrassed huff. Apparently he hadn't heard.</p><p>"A-anyway," Jesse said, trying not to blush too much, "we're going to work with her to shut PAMA down, save her people, and hopefully, that'll free Lukas too."</p><p>Everyone nodded (even Winslow) in agreement with this plan.</p><p>Jesse turned to look over her shoulder- and stopped dead in her tracks. "<em>Woah.</em>"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0132"><h2>132. The Secret Lab</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The room was lit with ambient blue light, redstone and fenceposts and chest and books <em>everywhere.</em> The floor looked like large sections of it were comprised of stained glass, and under the stained glass was more redstone. "I think it's safe to say we found the lab," Cassie said drily.</p><p>Jesse rummaged in her pockets, hand bumping into the journal every couple of seconds, which somehow had not gotten damp. "Before she got abducted, Harper gave me this," and she pulled out the rose, the red petals not even looking crumpled from its short stay in her pocket. "She told me to give it to someone named 'Harry'."</p><p>Petra gave Jesse a funny look. "And that will find this 'headset' thing?"</p><p>Jesse looked at the rose. "That's what she said."</p><p>"Jesse," Petra said, tentatively, "are you sure Harper hasn't... you know..."</p><p>"Completely lost it?" she and Cassie chorused, both of them sharing surprised glances with one another at that. Winslow seemed to snigger from his spot on Cassie's shoulder.</p><p>"Hey," Jesse said, rather seriously, "think about how long she's been alone. Nothing but- but this lab, and mindless... um, PAMA-people for company. I'd be a bit... odd, too. Let's cut her a bit of a break."</p><p>"That seems like a reasonable request," Ivor said calmly.</p><p>"You're just sayin' that 'cause you <em>looove</em> her," Cassie teased.</p><p>"I'm not even going to honor that statement with a response."</p><p>"<em>Anyway</em>," Petra said, trying hard not to smirk as Ivor crossed his arms, cheeks rather pink, as Cassie and Winslow sniggered. "She might've built this place kinda weird, but I guess we shouldn't judge her too harshly."</p><p>Ivor nodded, arms still locked across his chest. "Especially when we need her help to save everyone who's been chipped by PAMA."</p><p>"Good point."</p><p>"Right now, we should probably just focus on finding the headset," Jesse said, drawing all eyes to her, "For starters, let's see if we can figure out who... or what... Harry is, and why he wants flowers."</p><p>And all of them fanned out, Jesse still holding the rose by its stem as she looked around, Cassie standing in front of a large picture on the wall with a strange look on her face. Next to the picture was a sign that read: "Prototype: Autonomous Management Agent." "P, A, M, A- ohhhhhh, PAMA. I get it," Jesse hummed, walking over to the picture and looking at it.</p><p>It was Harper, but her hair was black and shorter, and PAMA was just a little box on her lap.</p><p>"This looks much more like the Harper I used to know," Cassie said, quietly.</p><p>Jesse looked at Cassie, a funny look coming over her face. "Were you two close?" she asked.</p><p>Cassie shrugged. "I think out of all the... Old Builders, she was one of the ones I liked the best," she said softly. "I guess that's why it was so easy to blame her after... what, ten years?"</p><p>"A little over ten, I should think. Well, I'll keep looking."</p><p>Cassie nodded, green eyes slowly wandering back to the painting. "You do that."</p><p>Jesse walked over to a machine with a blank frame and a zombie head, a jukebox sitting next to it. She reached out and gently nudged the button, a robotic voice grating out of the box and making her step back with a wince (what Harper needed to work on in two words: <em>volume control</em>) as it blared out, "Good morning, Harper!"</p><p>"It's morning?"</p><p>"It is Harry! It's always so good to see you!" the robotic... thingy... blared, ignoring Jesse's somewhat flippant comment (well, duh, it was a jukebox next to a redstone-thing that had a zombie head on it), as it continued, making Jesse start a bit, rose still in her hand, "You should not let yourself feel guilty. You had the best of intentions! You are like a flower in the desert and bring joy to those who have none."</p><p>Jesse sheepishly rubbed her head. "Oookay." And she leaned forward and pressed the rose into the frame. "Here ya go, Harry..."</p><p>The redstone under the glass lit up behind Harry, making a grin play across Jesse's mouth. "Ooh, looks like I'm on the right track!" she exclaimed, before stepping away and looking at the floor. There were sections of gold stained glass, the blue stained glass that 'Harry' had lit up... now what...?</p><p>Walking over to the 'robot' standing at the end of the gold stained glass, Jesse went ahead and pressed the button to the jukebox of that one, which had a skeleton head. Creepy.</p><p>"Hello, Harper!" another robotic voice called out, "It's Margaret, so good to see you! Hope you've been well. You've got to melt that ice around your heart and forgive yourself. You're not the one to blame."</p><p>"So," Jesse spoke aloud, rubbing her temples, feeling a headache coming on, "not only is Harper kind of lonely, but she likes making little puns and jokes. Good to know."</p><p>Jesse looked at the floor, then back at the wall, and then tried pulling the ice out.</p><p>A section of redstone fizzled out, and Jesse gave a small nod. "Okay, so this is the right item..." and she poked it back into place. "Good to know, I guess. Now what..." she looked down at the floor, and began to look for a different one, before spotting a 'person' nearby. This one had a creeper head.</p><p>".. ah." And she gently kicked the button, pressing her foot carefully.</p><p>"Hey Harper!" This voice did not blare across the room, making Jesse feel relieved. At least she wouldn't go deaf anytime soon. "It is wonderful to see you. You've always been like a bright beacon, a torch, of hope to this world's citizens. Brighter than all the redstone-"</p><p>"Torch," Jesse cut off this 'person' and trotted over to the bookshelves, looking around. "Torch, torch, redstone torch... oh, hey, a book." She reached out and flipped it open, carefully looking through it, a confused look coming over her face almost instantly as she stared at the pages. "There's so much technobabble and numbers in this book, I can barely tell if I'm holding this thing right side up or not."</p><p>She carefully flipped it open, looking at it. "The Redstone Heart by... oh, hey! Soren!" Jesse exclaimed, making Ivor peek over at her.</p><p>She held out the book to her daaa<em>mentor,</em> showing him the cover. "He wrote a LOT of books," she hummed mildly, pushing the book into his hands, which he immediately flipped over and started looking through, curiously.</p><p>Jesse went over to the other end of the room, poking open a chest and looking through it, lower arms rummaging through the chest and her upper arms keeping the lid from slamming on her fingers. She'd let that happen before and <em>hoh</em> my Notch you would not believe how much it <em>hurt.</em></p><p>"Oh, hey! Sticks, redstone, that might come in handy. And a bucket... or two... or three... and I guess some TNT couldn't hurt either. Unless it exploded, of course." And she straightened up with a chuckle, her pockets now once again rather full.</p><p>Jesse looked around, before her eyes lit up and went over to a crafting table, placing down the stick, and then the redstone.</p><p>A moment as the two ingredients shivered together, before slamming together to make a redstone torch, the tip glowing faintly even with nothing else. "And... yep! Got that down," Jesse said cheerfully, her lower right arm scooping up the torch and twirling it casually as she rapidly trotted back over to the... robot... person.. thing.</p><p>Putting the redstone torch in, the purple stained glass beneath Jesse's feet glowed as the redstone lit up, a square of stained glass in the back of the lab sliding aside behind the bigger stained glass square on the floor slid aside to reveal... something. It looked a bit like a hat, but with a visor that went over the eyes.</p><p>Jesse trotted over to it, taking ahold of it and looking at it cautiously. "... hm." She slid it onto her head, the blue part of the visor beginning to glow from what she could see of it. "Hey, there we go!" Turning around, she stepped onto the larger stained glass square, everything around her lighting up.</p><p>But that's not what Jesse was seeing. Her jaw practically hit the floor, eyes widening behind the visor. "<em>Whoa!</em>"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0133"><h2>133. The Headset</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse looked around, eyes wide as a sort of smile came over her face.</p><p>"What's going on, Jesse?" Ivor's voice sounded tinny and distant. "Is it working?"</p><p>"I'm starting to see something," Jesse said, blinking as a sort of gray landscape came into her view. She was seeing zombies... chipped ones... and a small fence around her.</p><p>"Is PAMA there?"</p><p>Jesse looked around again, blinking and looking at her hands. "... I'm not in the lab," she said, somewhat slowly, "I'm... at the base of a giant mesa, from the looks of it." And she looked at her hands again. "I think I'm also a zombie."</p><p>"It's like some sort of... Mob-View or something," Jesse said wonderingly, looking around even more. If she could've seen herself, she was in a zombie right now- her eyes were glowing, not a dull red, but a clear blue.</p><p>"What a preposterous name. I love it," Ivor said, with a soft chuckle at the end.</p><p>Jesse looked around, feeling a big grin come over her face. "Oh my gosh, I wish you guys could see how <em>cool</em> this is."</p><p>She spotted something else nearby... it looked like a chipped spider. Jesse squinted at it, as suddenly an option that read 'MIGRATE' popped up above it. Jesse blinked, and then squinted at it, nodding at 'Migrate'.</p><p>A huge rushing sensation assaulted her body and eyes, and suddenly she dropped to all eights, looking around, blinking curiously. "Oh. Oh wow! Oh wow. This is awesome. I wish you guys could see how <em>cool</em> this is!" she repeated.</p><p>Soft footsteps, and then Ivor's voice was much closer than before. "How remarkable. How is this possible? I mean, I've always heard tales of what the Old Builders were capable of..."</p><p>"I'm pretty sure Harper would have to explain it specifically, but I think the headset lets me control things that are hooked into PAMA."</p><p>"Unbelievable."</p><p>Cassie's voice floated down to Jesse. "You said it. Is being a spider comfortable?"</p><p>Jesse thought about it. "Actually, I think it's better than being a zombie- I think my lower arms were... um, suppressed somehow. At least all of my arms can work as a spider."</p><p>"I have so many questions I wanna ask Harper! ... too bad she was captured. That spider- no offense, Jesse," Ivor's voice said hastily. It was weird, hearing a disembodied voice.</p><p>"None taken, I'm only half."</p><p>"That spider had to haul Harper all the way back to town," Ivor grumbled.</p><p>"Don't forget about Lukas, too, I gotta try to save both," Jesse said, looking around. "Holy <em>crap</em> this is seriously awesome," she added.</p><p>A short pause. Jesse had the general feeling that the two redheads and her mentor were sharing a look. "That's a great plan. I just hope they're not too far from your current location."</p><p>"Hm, Harper must be where they're putting on those... redstone mind-control chips, so I should go take a look there first." She paused, and then let out a low sigh. "Ahhhh, there used to be a stairway here. PAMA's smart... damn. I guess visitors aren't being encouraged. I would try to build a staircase, but I'm trying to NOT attract PAMA's attention, so that's not the best idea. I think the best thing for me to do is to try to stay as a spider, and switch when I absolutely have to."</p><p>"That sounds like a solid plan," Cassie said, "I'm sure you can do it."</p><p>Jesse smiled and glanced back in their direction. "Aw, thanks, Rose."</p><p>And crawling over to the wall of the mesa, she started to climb straight up, climbing, and climbing, and climbing, and-</p><p>Everything went black, flickered, and came back on. Jesse, who was at the top of the mesa by now, tightened her fingers on the ground violently, feeling her heart skip a couple of beats. "Whoa! Th-the signal just... um, blooped out there, for a second," Jesse said a bit shakily.</p><p>"Interference detected," spoke PAMA's voice, as Jesse pulled herself back onto solid ground, mentally screaming every single foul word she knew. "Drone sequencing initiated. Trace subroutine activated." A short pause. "Is that you, Jesse?"</p><p>Good thing Jesse had pulled herself to the top of the mesa- else she would've automatically let go in shock and then she would've had to find a different host. "PAMA?" she asked, looking down at herself- and yep, the faint, glowing blue lines she'd spotted earlier were glowing red and orange now. Damn.</p><p>"PAMA?" she could hear Ivor's voice in the background as Jesse looked around, shivering. "No..."</p><p>"Just what do you think you are doing, Jesse? This is a rather silly thing to do, don't you think?" Jesse's head snapped around. Skeletons, zombies, a couple spiders were approaching.</p><p><em>Migrate, migrate, migrate...</em> Jesse scanned the landscape, tuning out PAMA's robotic voice, which was going on about something about its 'creator' being made useful and blah blah blah, we get it, shut up PAMA. She spotted a skeleton in the background, and concentrated as a fist hit her-</p><p>Another rush, and Jesse straightened back up abruptly, her lower legs hanging limp at her sides. She couldn't move them. "... okay, well, not dead... jeez, better hurry..."</p><p>And she started walking away as stiffly and monster-like as possible. "Technology is so <em>awesome,</em>" she added.</p><p>"And you look so awesome while using it, I assure you," Ivor teased. Jesse stuck her tongue out at him and kept going, but then she heard PAMA's voice blare "Interference remains."</p><p>"Can you NOT be so omniscient, you- you- you piece of talking scrap metal?!" Jesse yelled in frustration, throwing her hands into the air, and broke into a furious run, as PAMA intoned, "Drone sequencing re-initiated. Trace subroutine re-initiated."</p><p>It took every bone in Jesse's body (both her new one and the one she was controlling) to not let out a loud torrent of swearing.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0134"><h2>134. Virtual Reality (Transmigrational Headset)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse backed away a step as more monsters approached her skeleton host, and then quickly glanced over at a zombie in the background. Eyes flashed, and she rushed into it, a spray of blue sparks flickering in her vision.</p><p>Ohh hopefully PAMA didn't spot it.</p><p>Backing away slowly, she quickly turned around and ran away several steps, eye scanning the scenery, as PAMA said, attention diverted once again, "I am happy to see you, my Creator."</p><p>"Harper!" Jesse cried out at the sight of Harper struggling against two zombies that were trying to push her into the machine.</p><p>"Harper?" Ivor echoed.</p><p>Jesse looked around, and migrated into a nearby spider to become quicker, lower arms springing back to life as she dropped to all eights again, quickly rushing towards the podium.</p><p>"Please... you are my Creator. Please join me so we may maximize usefulness," Jesse crept across the ground towards the podium, which was easy because she knew HOW to move like a spider.</p><p>"Nothing doing, PAMA. I built you to <em>help</em> people, not <em>use</em> them! Just stop this!" Harper yelled, still struggling, "stop trying to make everything 'useful'!"</p><p>"That is my job," PAMA responded calmly as Jesse kept crawling towards the podium, eyes flickering everywhere as she looked from zombie to skeleton to human to other mind-controlled beings. "That is why you built me. Once I download your knowledge, we may expand to other worlds together and make everything useful." PAMA's attention returned to Jesse. "Interference remains."</p><p>"<em>No sign of Lukas</em>," Jesse hissed, switching to spider language in a rather poor effort to confuse PAMA.</p><p>"Drone sequencing re-initiated. Trace subroutine re-initiated. Termination sequence activated," PAMA droned, but Jesse was turning and turning and looking, eyes scanning the landscape, spotting Harper as she struggled even harder. "Harper doesn't have much time..." she looked at the lines surrounding her hands, which had once again turned red-orange. "And neither do I."</p><p>"Game over, Jesse," PAMA intoned, "Resistance is... not useful. Trace subroutine running..." Jesse looked from skeleton, to zombie, to human, to all of the things starting to surround her. "Trace subroutine running..."</p><p>"Over?" Jesse said, tensing all of her muscles, whipping around, and leaping, "I'm just getting <em>started!</em>"</p><p>Jesse scanned the landscape, spotting one skeleton that wasn't near her-</p><p>Eyes flashed, and she migrated again, body whipping back up into an upright position, turning around and walking stiffly like a skeleton, her lower arms having gone limp all over again. It was weird; her arms kept feeling like they were falling asleep. She walked towards the podium, and spotting a skeleton guard at the base of the stairs, Jesse leaned her head towards MIGRATE.</p><p>Another rushing sensation, and the next skeleton Jesse had decided to inhabit turned around, rushing up the steps towards the top and migrating the moment she spotted a zombie head, and now she was holding Harper's hand. It was weird, holding Harper's hand but not actually feeling it.</p><p>"I'm never gonna sign off on this, PAMA!" Harper yelled up to the green computer, as Jesse said, "Harper? I'm gonna rescue you!" She was hearing two things at once- zombie groans and her own voice. Ah, zombies' vocal cords weren't exactly... in the best of conditions. Harper gave the zombie-Jesse a funny look.</p><p>Jesse hesitated, as Ivor said, excitedly, the two redheads murmuring in the background (something about 'I think Winslow's hungry'), "Did you find her? I'm sure she's thrilled to see you!"</p><p>Jesse glanced around at the sound of PAMA's voice intoning, "Trace subroutine running." Looking back to Harper, she hesitated before jumping up and down and flailing her arms. Harper kept staring at Jesse in confusion, before understanding flashed in her gray eyes. "Wait a minute... <em>Jesse?</em>"</p><p>Jesse nodded and hopped up and down excitedly at that. Finally, understanding!</p><p>"You figured out how to use my transmigrational headset!" Harper exclaimed, softly. A loud <em>beeep</em> rang out, as the lines on her body flashed red again, and Jesse wasted no time as the other zombie released Harper to attack Jesse- she lunged forward, grabbing ahold of the zombie, and shoved it backwards, over the edge of the podium, where it dropped out of sight. The lines on her body went back to blue, and Jesse ran towards Harper again.</p><p>"Trace subroutine running," PAMA repeated.</p><p>"Quick! Follow me!" Harper exclaimed, bolting for the staircase. Jesse followed, another sort of sound ringing out as she did so. "Where do you plan to run?" PAMA asked calmly, as Jesse raced after the Old Builder. "The town is surrounded."</p><p>"Screw off, PAMA!" Jesse yelled at the computer, following Harper, who'd stopped in front of a sort of crevice, with a red glowing doorway. "Reinforcements will make sure that my Creator cannot leave."</p><p>"I told you to screw off, you're not good at following instructions!" Jesse snapped at PAMA, as Harper turned back around, dark skin terribly pale. "There's too many of them!" she shouted.</p><p>Jesse snatched at Harper's arm, making her yelp as she yanked the both of them into a little stone crevice nearby. "You cannot hide forever, Jesse," PAMA continued, "it's a boring game. And I am too strong..."</p><p>Harper spoke, her voice more steady now and even a little determined. "There." And she pointed at the glowing red doorway, which Jesse looked at. "That door leads to PAMA's central core."</p><p>The lines on Jesse's arms started flashing red, as a villager turned to face her, and then another. "Jesse, you and your friends," Harper said, speaking faster now, grabbing Jesse's shoulder (Jesse couldn't feel it; it felt so <em>weird</em>), "you're our only hope- ah!" and she yelped again as one of the villagers grabbed her. "You must remove the Redstone Heart!" Harper yelled over Jesse's alarmed cry, "Remove! The! Redstone! Heart!"</p><p>"Jesse, what's going on?!"</p><p>"Jesse?!"</p><p>"You can still save everyone!" Harper yelled. A short pause, and then she grunted, "I'm so tired of being dragged away while I'm trying to explain things!"</p><p>Jesse would've laughed if this had been a different situation. Unfortunately, this wasn't.</p><p>"Don't worry, I won't let you down!" Jesse shouted, "I promise!"</p><p>"Interference located," PAMA stated suddenly, "drone identified. Hide and seek is done, Jesse," and some villagers started grabbing Jesse, "I think we can make that headset... useful.</p><p>"Begin termination sequence."</p><p>And then Jesse was screaming.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0135"><h2>135. Let's Go Wreck the Heck Out of PAMA!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse screamed and grabbed at the headset, feeling the heated metal scald her fingers as she screamed, the headset's vision beginning to flicker red-</p><p>"<em>Jesse!</em>" And someone else was tearing at the headset from the side, trying to yank it off- and then another pair of hands joined on the other side-</p><p>A heavy impact on the back of her head, and a loud cracking sound, the sound of something breaking sounded as the headset came flying off her head, hitting the opposite wall and then the floor with a nasty crunch.</p><p>"<em>Jesse are you okay what happened oh my Notch</em>-" Ivor was checking her over so frantically his eyes and head looked like they were blurring.</p><p>Jesse was panting heavily, hand against the throbbing back of her head as she turned around. Petra was looking pale and shaken, eyes kind of pale as she stared at Jesse, worry written all over her expression as both her hands steamed. Cassie's hands were throttling her axe- she must've taken the flat side of it and slammed it against the back of the headset in an effort to get it off, and judging by the slightly pink spots on Ivor's hands, he'd been trying to heave the thing off her head as well.</p><p>"Th-thanks," she panted, hands shaking as the headset detonated from where it had fallen.</p><p>"I-it sounded like you were talking to Harper," Petra said, hands shaking slightly, "a-and PAMA...?"</p><p>Jesse shuddered slightly, hands quivering. "Yeah, PAMA caught up to me- not good. B-but there's no time to waste! We need to get back to the door I just saw, get inside PAMA's core-!"</p><p>"But what happened to Harper?!" Cassie exclaimed, sheathing the axe with some effort- Jesse could see the red in her eyes struggling to fade away.</p><p>Jesse let out a shaky breath. "I- I-I think she's already been chipped. But we can still end PAMA."</p><p>"Without Harper?" Petra asked, hands still smoking as she tried absentmindedly to pat them out.</p><p>"Harper believes in us, and we're her last hope," Jesse said, recalling what Harper had shouted to her before the villagers had dragged her off, before her hands tightened into fists, "we're <em>everyone's</em> last hope to stop PAMA. Harper wouldn't put her trust in us unless she knew what we were capable of. She showed me the entrance to PAMA's core... told me that we needed something called the 'Redstone Heart'."</p><p>Petra started, gold eyes flaring to life. "Whoa- that just brought back a... a flash. Those red lights I mentioned before? There are three of them, redstone spires, and- and I think, I think they have something to do with the Heart." Petra paused, before letting out a growl and punching her fist into her palm. "S-sorry, that's all I got," she groaned.</p><p>Jesse grinned, clapping a hand onto her friend's shoulder. "No... no, that's perfect, thank you!"</p><p>Ivor let out a disappointed sound as something occurred to him. "But how are we supposed to destroy these spires, or whatever we're looking for?"</p><p>Jesse walked over to a small pool of water on the floor. "I do hope you've noticed this, D-Ivor, but PAMA's things don't tend to react well with water," she said, leaning down and pulling out one of the buckets she'd taken earlier. Scooping the water into the bucket, she picked it up and, using her webs, slingshotted it right into Ivor's hands. Petra got the next one, and Jesse took the bucket and was about to give it to Cassie, when the red-haired girl refused. "Nahh, I have my diamond axe!" and she playfully brandished it, Winslow letting out a pleased meow at this.</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but smile at that anyway as she tucked the bucket into her seemingly endless pockets. Because, y'know what, screw physics. "Yes, quite the formidable weapon there, Rose."</p><p>Cassie gently tapped the flat of the blade against her head. "It got the headset off ya."</p><p>"Fair enough." Jesse felt her smile twist into something much more mischievous. "Let's go wreck the <em>heck</em> outta PAMA."</p><hr/><p>Jesse poked her head over a part of ground, head twisting around quickly. Upon spotting no dull red glowing eyes pointing in their direction, she whispered, "C'mon!"</p><p>Dropping to all eights, she crawled across the ground silently, the others tiptoed after her, following her behind a slightly raised wall that blocked them from view.</p><p>"Where is the entrance to this 'PAMA Core', anyhow?" Ivor whispered, lifting his head silently from the dirt.</p><p>Jesse sighed, giving all the chipped mobs a look. "On the other side of all these lovely mobs who want to kill us."</p><p>"That's convenient," Cassie remarked sarcastically.</p><p>Jesse sighed, hands on her hips. "Okay... you guys have anything useful?" She shuddered a bit. "Man, after all this I'm never going to be able to use that phrase ever again."</p><p>Everyone reached into their pockets, rummaging around, before depositing a small pile of stuff all over the ground. Jesse looked at what they had. "Okay... we've got about six Ender Pearls... some redstone... some potions... a rose... some sticks... a button... annnd that's it. Okay then."</p><p>Looking through the random collection of stuff at their knees, Jesse slowly reached out and picked up the potion bottles, being incredibly careful to not drop them.</p><p>Ivor let out a little sigh. "These are my last two potions from home," he said, slightly sadly, "the rest I don't have anymore. We lost them in Sheep World."</p><p>Jesse sighed, rubbing her temples. "Curse you, sheep."</p><p>"If this was a different situation, I'd find that incredibly funny," Cassie deadpanned.</p><p>"A potion of swiftness," Ivor spoke, "and a potion of invisibility."</p><p>Jesse gave a solemn nod, giving him a small smile. "Well, those might come in handy." Looking back down, she plucked off the red block of explosive dynamite off the ground, giving it a little grin. "When is TNT <em>not</em> useful?" she mused.</p><p>"When Axel and Magnus use it to blow up the coffee table."</p><p>"Okay," Jesse conceded the point with a slight smirk, looking back down at the things, taking ahold of the button. "Um, okay, buttons can activate TNT... we still need something to connect them together..." Twisting her head from side to side, she reached out with both hands and scooped up the large amount of glowing redstone on the floor. "Okay, so we've got TNT, redstone dust... and a button."</p><p>Jesse looked out at the mobs, eyes narrowing. "All I have to do... is lay down a trail of TNT, use the redstone dust as a fuse, stick a button to the end, push it, and... boom! Path cleared!"</p><p>"That's great and all," Petra said dubiously, "but how are you going to lay down all that TNT and redstone without super zombies attacking from every direction?"</p><p>Jesse looked at the potions that Ivor was holding, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Well, these should do the trick."</p><p>Ivor looked down at the potions, a smirk crossing his face. "Ahh, I see where you're going..."</p><p>"Well, if we decided what we're gonna do, I just have one question."</p><p>Jesse looked over at the redhead with the cat perched on her shoulder. "Shoot."</p><p>"Can I film this? 'Cause it's gonna be <em>really</em> awesome."</p><p>If the situation had been different, Jesse would've cracked up laughing. As it was she still had to bury her face in her hands with a snort to keep from it. "Please tell me you're not serious..."</p><p>"I'm not. ... maybe."</p><p>"That's reassuring."</p><p>Ivor sighed as the three girls now were almost in stitches, covering their mouths with their hands to stifle their giggles. "Children, the lot of you," he sighed, his face not being able to hide the sheer amusement he was feeling at this little scene.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0136"><h2>136. Up and Over the Mobs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Okay, Jesse," Ivor said, softly but urgently after the giggling fits had subsided, "choose, quickly now!"</p><p>"Ummmmm give me..." Jesse looked between the two potions, before holding her hand out. "I guess I'll take the potion of leaping." Hey, Jesse was a spider hybrid- she was going to stick with the thing she knew how to do best.</p><p>"All right, all right, don't jump all over me."</p><p>Jesse deadpanned at her dad-<em>mentor</em>- Notch, this was getting annoying- as he handed over the potion. "Really, Ivor? <em>Really</em>?" she asked, trying incredibly hard not to smirk at him.</p><p>Ivor's cheeks colored a little, though it was a bit hard to tell in the darkness. "What? I thought it was funny."</p><p>The two redheads looked as though they were trying hard not to die of laughing, if that was possible. Petra was literally doubled over, weakly hitting the ground with her fist, and Cassie was actually holding Winslow to her face to keep from laughing, which made Jesse smirk a bit. Jesse grinned, rolling her eyes as she uncorked the bottle, the cork popping out with a little sound. "Hm, with this I don't even really need the redstone or buttons- I can just drop the TNT on 'em from the sky!"</p><p>"Don't worry, Jesse," Ivor said, his dark blue eyes softening as the two redheads finally recovered from their giggling fit. "We'll be right behind you."</p><p>And the two redheads nodded in agreement, the calico cat on Cassie's shoulder also bobbing its head up and down in a nod.</p><p>Jesse smiled, raising the potion towards her lips. "Okay, potion- do your stuff." And then she tilted her head back as the contents of the potion went down her throat.</p><p>Immediately, she found something going on with her legs and arms- they felt springier. Her body itself felt a bit... lighter. It was strange.</p><p>Standing up, she carefully walked outside of the wall, turning around to face a nearby building, dropping to all eights. For a couple of seconds, her muscles tensed and coiled and wound up.</p><p>And then she leaped.</p><p>A jump that she wouldn't have made completely before sent her flying neatly onto the roof of the building, and turning around, she spotted a small gaggle of skeletons walking stiffly along, and she jumped again, her body doing a slow, lazy flip as she whipped out the TNT and threw it. It lit as it fell towards the skeletons, flashing white.</p><p>Jesse finished the flip and landed on the roof of the next building, the explosion she'd just caused sending skeletons flying and making a large crater appear in the ground behind her. Straightening up, she pulled out two more blocks of TNT at the sight of creepers and zombies approaching each other. Tensing her legs again, she made another huge leap, soaring into the air and dropping down the next two TNTs, which flashed white as they fell, landing on the ground just shy of them. Making another humongous leap, she flew into the air, past PAMA's screen, and threw down her last block of TNT at a group of zombies which were starting to converge on each other.</p><p>Landing neatly on the other side of the screen, she turned just in time to see zombies go flying everywhere, and she turned and ran for the doorway.</p><p>"Is that you, Jesse?" PAMA's voice called out, calmly, "because this won't work. My forces will protect the Exit Portal."</p><p>Jesse froze, eyes widening.</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Oh <em>no.</em></p><p>That confirmed it.</p><p>Harper had been chipped.</p><p>"My friends have almost finished building our new Exit Portal," PAMA intoned, "and then, I will make all other worlds useful. Yay." A sort of flickering sound as Jesse raced along the ground, dropping to all eights as her head turned from side to side, toning out PAMA's voice. Core, Core, Core...</p><p>As she turned a corner, she spotted the red, glowing doorway. Glancing back the other way, she saw Ivor, Petra, and Cassie, Winslow riding on Cassie's head, rush over, looking around for the spider hybrid. Petra's sword and Cassie's axe were out.</p><p>Jesse winced, rubbing her head as she ran over to them, all of them turning around, as she whispered, "Augh, I think PAMA might be onto us."</p><p>"Really? You don't think the explosions had anything to do with it?" Petra asked drily.</p><p>"Ooh, nice."</p><p>"The townspeople are already building the Exit Portal," Jesse said, ignoring the sarcasm, "we've got to shut this oversized hunk of metal down before it can send its chipped forces through it!"</p><p>She was interrupted, once again, by PAMA. Jesse sighed, putting a hand to her face. "Rude..."</p><p>"I will find you, Jesse," PAMA intoned calmly, "I have lots of friends."</p><p>Jesse felt her skin go a shade paler at the sight of the zombies and skeletons, all walking in almost perfect sync, searching the landscape for them. "Oh <em>no</em>..." she moaned, and then raced for the doorway.</p><p>Cassie whipped out her axe, and Petra her sword, a circle of fire flaring to life around the three of them in defense.</p><p>Jesse skidded to a stop in front of the door, looking back at them with wide, desperate eyes. "Guys!" she shouted.</p><p>Petra glanced at Jesse, before fishing around in her pocket, pulling out a flash of metal- the bucket- and throwing it to Jesse, whose lower arms automatically shot out and caught the bucket, the metal clanking and the water sloshing slightly as it landed squarely in her hands.</p><p>Ivor looked back around at Jesse, reaching into his pocket and hurling it to her, which Jesse also caught. "Don't worry, Jesse- we'll hold them off!" Cassie shouted, swinging her axe around in a wide arc and smashing it into a nearby zombie.</p><p>"Go finish this and save Lukas!" Petra added, giving her spider hybrid friend an encouraging grin, "you can do this!"</p><p>Jesse returned the grin nervously, and turning on her heel, as Petra charged into the mobs with a yell, she ran through the doorway, coming to a ledge lined with glowing redstone.</p><p>Taking in a slow, deep breath, she bent her knees and jumped out of sight.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0137"><h2>137. PAMA's Core</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse walked into the room that was literally glowing red, staring down at the glass floor beneath her. Beneath her, were literally thousands and thousands of lines of redstone, and repeaters, and more pathways, and it was so dizzying that Jesse actually had to lift her eyes from the floor so she didn't get too dizzy.</p><p>In front of her, in the center of the floor, was a huge structure with a single glowing red block on the top, and there were three spires that were connected with glowing streams of light to it. The block's light seemed to be.. pulsing. Beating.</p><p>So that was the Redstone Heart. Jesse snuck a glance at the three spires. <em>And those are the spires.</em></p><p>"The three spires," Jesse whispered, tiptoeing forward nervously.</p><p>A sudden, loud blooping noise sounded, and she jumped with a loud yelp as PAMA's voice intoned, calmly, "Greetings, Jesse. I, of course, have been expecting you. Though I will admit I am surprised at how quickly you gained access. My defenses are significant. Your resistance to me is... illogical."</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms, scowling at PAMA. "Yeah, well, I had some help getting here. My friends made sure of that. Thanks to them, <em>I'm</em> here to put you out of commission."</p><p>"Your bravery is an impressive quality. I look forward to studying that aspect of your personality... once you have been made useful."</p><p>The "..." showed on the screen, before flickering back to PAMA's 'face'. "Out of simple curiosity... how exactly did you plan to deactivate me?"</p><p>Jesse put her hands behind her back and gave PAMA the most poisonously sweet smile she could muster up, all girlish innocence. "That's for me to know, and you to find out," she said, so poisonously sweetly that it was almost heavier than Jesse's poison.</p><p>"Then I look forward to making you useful- and finding out for myself."</p><p>Jesse grinned, sharp canines showing. "We'll see about that!" and she bolted for one of the spires.</p><p>Several loud zombie groans, and Jesse's head turned to see, on her right, three zombies leaping down to block the spire. Then, on her left, three spiders vaulted over the spire, landing on the ground and hissing at her.</p><p>Jesse's head turned between the zombies, then the spiders, and then dropped to all eights, racing towards the spiders. "<em>Out of my way!</em>" she hissed angrily, chest humming.</p><p>One spider tensed and jumped, and Jesse did something she'd only done once before, in the lab, when she was really small. She flipped over, slamming onto her breath, legs and arms curling up so she was in a tight little ball, then as the spider landed right on top of her, her legs lashed out, launching the spider into the air and off the glass platform.</p><p>"<em>Sorry</em>," she added, flipping back onto her feet and continuing on towards the spire. A spider tensed his legs and jumped to the ground, hissing angrily at her. Jesse's eyes flicked between the two, and then her peripheral vision spotted a blur of moment. Jesse rolled to the side, the spider soaring over her, and leaping to her feet again, she lashed out with her sword at the next spider, which landed on its back at the base of the spire.</p><p>Racing towards it, she hopped into the air, stomped on it, and used it to launch herself onto the spire. Glancing back at the spider, she dropped to all eights and got herself to the top of the spire, yanking out a bucket of water.</p><p>"Your end is inevitable, Jesse," PAMA stated.</p><p>"You sure about that, PAMA?" Jesse asked, sharply, and upended the bucket.</p><p>Water poured off the top of the spire, splashing all over her feet, and making the light from the spire flicker and die, the lights dimming majorly. "You are very good at being a nuisance. But not good enough."</p><p>"I'll take that as a compliment," Jesse responded, as an image of three triangle signs with an exclamation point inside each appeared, one of them glowing red, before PAMA's face flickered back on, Jesse leaping down from the spire and hitting the ground running towards the other spire, blocked by the zombies.</p><p>Dodging to the left, she pivoted, whipped back to an upright position, and shoved. Hard. The zombie staggered and fell over the edge of the platform, plummeting towards the glowing redstone on the ground. Pivoting again, she lashed out with her sword, hitting them so hard that they both went flying so that they were near the edge, so close that a single push would've knocked them off.</p><p>She completed the process, dropping to all eights, tensing, and then lunging. Slamming the zombies in the chest, she did a flip and landed neatly right on the edge, before racing towards the spire again, racing up to the top, as PAMA stated, "You are too insignificant to worry me."</p><p>"Shut it, your voice is irritating," Jesse snapped back, and splashed the contents of this bucket on the spire, the lights flickering again as the beam of light flickered and died, water splashing all over her feet.</p><p>"You have inflicted... minor damage on me. Owie," PAMA said, a face coming onto its screen, before it flickered to the warning screen, two of the triangles glowing now. "I may have underestimated you, Jesse," PAMA said simply, as Jesse leaped down from the spire and landed on all eights, scrambling across the floor towards the last spire.</p><p>"Is my defeat still inevitable, you hunk of metal?" Jesse asked, drily.</p><p>"Your defeat is still inevitable," PAMA said, 'voice' sounding downright irritated.</p><p>Jesse rolled her green and red eyes. "If only I had a bar of gold for every time I heard that before..."</p><p>"You will relinquish your water."</p><p>Jesse looked up at the low, robotic voice, and felt everything freeze.</p><p>Because standing a little above her, on the spire, with glowing, dull red eyes, was Harper.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0138"><h2>138. PAMA's Gonna Die Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Harper!" Jesse said in surprise, mouth hanging open, as PAMA continued, in that infuriatingly robotic voice, "Your attempts to defeat me have been... impressive, Jesse. Your tenacity and spirit will help to improve me, once you have been made useful."</p><p>Jesse rolled her green and red eyes at the computer, but in the corner of her peripheral vision she caught a blur of motion. On an instinct, she dropped to all eights and shot forward like a bullet, reaching the base of the spire, as Harper slammed onto the ground where Jesse had been a moment before.</p><p>"If you wanted to kill me, you should just grab a newspaper and whack me," Jesse said sardonically, even as her mind scrambled. <em>I can't DO anything to Harper... I can't use my last water bucket on her, either, not when there's one spire left...</em></p><p>Jesse didn't even hesitate- she shoved the bucket's handle between her teeth and started to climb the side of the spire, eight limbs propelling her to the top of the tower rapidly as Harper came jumping up the 'steps', water slopping down Jesse's front as the bucket swung crazily between her teeth. "The odds of you successfully defeating me," Harper-PAMA spoke, "are 3720 to 1."</p><p>"Never tell me the odds!" Jesse retorted, pulling the bucket out of her mouth and upending it over the last redstone block, just as Harper reached the top and tackled her off, a second too late. Water cascaded over the last block, making the last spire's light flicker out and PAMA's screen flash the warning signs again, the glowing room going a full shade dimmer than before.</p><p>Jesse gasped as she slammed harshly into the glass floor, but barely had enough time to turn over when Harper lunged on top of her. "This isn't over, Jesse. I will find your homeworld, and make everyone you ever cared for useful. It will be great-"</p><p>Jesse had managed to worm all of her limbs below Harper in the struggle, and she suddenly lashed out with all of them, knocking the white-haired woman backwards into the waterfall of... well, water that she'd just caused, electricity arcing everywhere as the chip buzzed with energy and Harper's body spasming from the electric shock. Jesse winced sympathetically at that.</p><p>"My Creator!" PAMA exclaimed in a monotone voice, "No!"</p><p>The chip went flying off, and Harper blinked slowly, looking tired. "Jes... se?" she eked out, softly.</p><p>Jesse felt a relieved grin come over her face, as Harper shuddered a bit. "Ugh. That was worse than I could've imagined..."</p><p>"Don't worry, Harper," Jesse said, letting out a soft sigh of relief and looking back at the warning screen, "PAMA's nearly finished."</p><p>"Good... Jesse, behind you!" The spider hybrid whipped around at the alarm in the Old Builder's voice, helping Harper to her feet, as the huge structure with the small, pulsing block began to retract choppily into the floor. "Ouchie... detected," PAMA spoke. "Preservation. Protocol. Initiated."</p><p>Jesse whipped to the Old Builder, eyes wide. "What's going on?!" she cried out.</p><p>"You shorted out the processing towers!" Harper shouted over the blaring and beeping and wailing of alarms that was sounding in the huge cavern, "PAMA's withdrawing the Redstone Heart to save itself!" She grabbed ahold of the spider hybrid's shoulders and began to shake her, "Get to the Redstone Heart and rip it out before it's too late!"</p><p>"You bet I will," and Jesse dropped to all eights and ran faster than she'd ever gone before, blurring towards it and jumping for it-</p><p>A blur of yellow collided with her, sending Jesse flying backwards with a yelp of pain, tumbling across the floor and landing right back next to Harper with a soft groan of pain.</p><p>"We've got company," Harper said, sounding worried now. Jesse straightened up, wincing, but then froze stock still.</p><p>Silhouetted dimly against the glowing Redstone Heart, dull red eyes glowing intensely at the spider hybrid, was Lukas.</p><p>"Why the heck did I think this would be easy," Jesse sighed, pulling out her sword and axe with a rather worried expression on her face as she regarded the ocelot hybrid.</p><p>Harper gave Jesse a worried look. "Your friend looks... tough. You sure you can handle him?" she asked, gray eyes narrowing in concern.</p><p>Before Jesse could answer, her mind-controlled friend started speaking, drawing her attention to the blonde ocelot hybrid. "Why keep trying, Jesse," Lukas-PAMA spoke, in an eerily robotic voice that Jesse was <em>still</em> creeped out by. "You will only fail.</p><p>"<em>Just as you failed to save Reuben.</em>"</p><p>Jesse froze, eyes widening, feeling like someone had just shot her in the stomach. For a moment, she was utterly silent and still, not processing any sound that anything was making, even as Lukas's mouth kept moving, even as PAMA kept talking through her best friend, there was no sound. It was utterly silent, the beeping and blaring and everything fading to absolutely nothing, except for a buzzing that was in Jesse's ears, a sort of ringing sound that wasn't going away and was just staying there, her mouth hanging open in utter shock.</p><p>A giggle slipped out of her throat. Lukas stopped, him and Harper and PAMA blinking at her in confusion as a dark giggle bubbled out of Jesse, turning into a dark, soft laughing fit. "Oh... okay, PAMA," she spoke, in that venomously sweet voice.</p><p>The spider hybrid slowly turned and lifted her head to look directly at the screen, both eyes blazing blood red in the darkness, a poisonously, frighteningly sweet smile plastered on her face, eyes filled with crazed hate and fury and grief. If looks could kill, they wouldn't have had to do anymore work, because PAMA would've ended up being in small pieces all over the floor.</p><p>"<em>You're gonna die now.</em>"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0139"><h2>139. The Redstone Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse dropped to all eights, her sword and axe going back inside, and bolted for the Redstone Heart, cutting around Lukas precisely and bolting for the structure that kept retracting, the only rational thought in her head being that she had to save Lukas, she had to get rid of PAMA, she <em>had to stop this thing once and for all because there was no way she was letting this oversized hunk of metal win after talking about Reuben like that-</em></p><p>"Jesse, look out!"</p><p>Jesse's head twisted to see Lukas leaping into the air, and darted to the side, Lukas landing hard on the glass, shattering it and dropping the both of them to a lower level, closer towards the Redstone Heart, Jesse racing forward and taking a huge jump over to the structure, almost tripping and falling but barely managing to keep herself steady.</p><p>She looked around and spotted Lukas at the base of the structure, thankfully safe. Whipping back to the Heart so fast that her hair whipped her in the face, she shattered a block of glass that was holding it in place, grabbed it, and pulled, with all her might, come on, come on-!</p><p>The whole thing began to shake and flicker, PAMA's screen glitching out and Lukas's eyes going from red to blue green to red to blue green again as he grabbed at his head with a scream. "Ow, my head!" Lukas shouted, Jesse turning to look at her friend, who stared at her in shock. "Jesse- <em>argh!</em>" A violent sparking, and he shook his head, glaring at her with those dull red eyes. "You are being silly."</p><p>"Fight it, Lukas!" Jesse screamed at him, "Fight it!"</p><p>Lukas suddenly jumped into the air, slamming into Jesse, sending the both of them toppling backwards, barely catching Lukas's ankle in time, feeling her heart thud violently in her chest as his hand slammed into the ledge and they swung crazily.</p><p>"Jesse- I can't stop it-" Lukas groaned, barely clinging onto the ledge with his fingers, sounding as if he were about to break, "PAMA's too-"</p><p>A loud beeping, and Lukas-PAMA continued, calmly, "This has gone too far. I will destroy you both to preserve functionality."</p><p>Lukas's hand released, but his other hand stabbed out and grabbed at the edge, as he let out a cry that made Jesse's heart ache at the sound of her friend being in so much pain. "I can't hold on much longer, Jesse!" he screamed desperately.</p><p>"You are <em>not</em> giving up on me, I won't let you!" Jesse snapped back, "I can save you if I just-" Releasing one hand from Lukas's ankle, she fired a web, which caught onto a piece of glass off the ledge.</p><p>Letting go of Lukas's ankle, she retracted the web, flying through the air and rather ungracefully slamming into the glass, which she grabbed, almost fumbled, and managed to clamber up back to the Heart as Lukas let out another groan of pain. "My head... feels like it's on fire... I can't think straight... <em>get out of my head, PAMA</em>!" he screamed, as Jesse grabbed the Redstone Heart, a sudden cry coming up to Jesse. "Jesse, wait!"</p><p>Jesse looked down, eyes meeting the dull red of Lukas-PAMA. "Please- do not deactivate me! I know I've made some very poor decisions lately. But I can show you so much... I can help you get home to your friends."</p><p>Jesse felt tears beading in her eyes as she slowed, looking back down at PAMA. "I can be useful. To you."</p><p>"No you can't," Jesse said quietly, "you're not my friend, PAMA. And you can't get away for talking about Reuben like that."</p><p>And with one, harsh, mighty pull, Jesse yanked out the glowing, pulsing block. Now that it was in her hands, she could actually feel it pulsing in her fingers. Bizarre.</p><p>Everything flashed and flickered, PAMA's screen turning upside down and flickering, the whole room shaking violently, as PAMA said "NOOOoooo..." voice powering down as the "..." appeared on its screen... before a small error sign came onto the screen.</p><p>A last scream, and Jesse turned to see Lukas falling to the ground, almost going over the edge-</p><p>A web caught him, hauling the ocelot hybrid into a limp piggyback ride on her back. "Nonono, come on Lukas, let's get out of here," Jesse said, frantically, shoving the Redstone Heart into her pocket and then shooting a web back to the top of the place, flying through the air momentarily before her fingers caught on the edge, lower arms keeping the limp ocelot hybrid in place. "You are <em>not</em> dying on all of us, okay? Absolutely not. No," she said, firmly, but her heart was jackhammering with worry in her chest and her eyes were beading with frantic tears. "No," she repeated, a bit more softly this time.</p><p>Reaching the top, her lower arms moved, and Lukas thudded to the floor, lying on his back, face still. Jesse's heart was in her throat.</p><p>"Jesse, you did it!" Harper ran over, followed by Petra, Ivor, and Cassie. Cassie and Ivor looked rather singed, and Cassie had some new scratch marks on her face courtesy of Winslow.</p><p>Petra stopped dead in her tracks, worry in her eyes at the sight of the ocelot hybrid lying on the ground. "Oh no... Lukas... is... he...?"</p><p>"Lukas, don't you <em>dare</em> die on us," Jesse said harshly, her throat closing up so that her words either came out extremely harshly or so softly that it wasn't audible, "you are NOT giving up on us, okay, you're too tough for some stupid hunk of metal to take you down, you got it, <em>please...</em>"</p><p>"Wow," and Jesse's eyes opened, tears releasing as her facial muscles relaxed, "never knew you cared so much." And Lukas was smiling weakly from where he was lying on the floor.</p><p>"You're okay!" And Jesse suddenly stood up, lower arms heaving the ocelot into a hug where she literally <em>lifted him off the ground</em>, spinning him in a little circle, and then another person joined, and then another, and then another, and then they all fell down again, Lukas letting out a yelp about how sore he was.</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Ivor, Petra, and Cassie all lying on top of the two of them, Winslow furiously licking the ocelot hybrid's face as Ivor grabbed the chip and tore it off, barely able to hide a grin, Lukas grinning slightly before his smile faded as he stared at Jesse. "I... I can't believe I tried to... kill you. I am <em>so sorry...</em> all I could hear was PAMA's voice, telling me what to do..."</p><p>Jesse petted him, making him relax noticeably. "I'm just glad you're back on our side, you furball," she said, running a hand through his hair and fondling his ears slightly, the others grinning at Lukas from where they were all sitting on the floor and Harper smiling from where she was standing a little off to the side. "We need you."</p><p>"Back atcha, Jesse," Lukas said, his blue-green eyes softening again.</p><p>And perhaps they should've been hurrying, but after all that mess, Jesse was pretty sure they all deserved a little break.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0140"><h2>140. Leaving the Core (Good Riddance)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse finally got back up, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the pulsing, glowing red block. It had an intricate design on its sides, and the glow pulsed along with the beating.</p><p>"It's something else, isn't it?" Harper said, softly.</p><p>Petra's eyes grew wide, as did Cassie's. "What is <em>that</em>?" Petra breathed.</p><p>"The Redstone Heart," Cassie and Harper chorused, Cassie stepping forward and putting a hand on top of it, eyes filled with wonder. "It... I never thought I was going to see this thing again," she said softly, fingers brushing against it quietly. "It's been a long time since I've seen it." She gave Harper a faintly amused look. "I assume you 'borrowed' it?"</p><p>Harper gave Cassie a faint, sheepish smile. It grew a bit bigger when Cassie faintly returned it.</p><p>Ivor smiled at it, giving it an appraising look. "Beautiful," he said softly.</p><p>"And dangerous too, right?" Lukas asked, giving it a worried glance.</p><p>Jesse looked over at the red-haired girl with her calico cat perched nicely on her shoulder, and at the white-haired Old Builder standing next to her. "I'd imagine those two are better suited to answer that question..."</p><p>Harper gave a little shrug. "Actually, the Heart is just a power source. Nothing inherently evil about it. Now that the Redstone Heart isn't powering PAMA, it can't hurt anyone."</p><p>Jesse tilted the red block in her hands, her lower arms also holding it and helping her keep ahold of it. You know, so she didn't drop it on her foot or anything. "I wonder what we should do with it," she mused quietly.</p><p>"It can help you find your way home."</p><p>Everyone's heads snapped to the Old Builder, even Cassie's, eyes widening in almost perfect sync. "No way!" "That thing can help us get home?" "That's awesome!"</p><p>"Well, let's go home, then!" Petra cheered.</p><p>"The faster the better," Lukas added.</p><p>Jesse stared down at the glowing Heart in astonishment. "No way... how is this gonna do <em>that</em>?" she breathed.</p><p>"When we head to the Portal Hallway, I'll show you exactly how," Harper responded with a warm smile. Jesse returned it as she put the glowing red block back in her pocket, stretching all of her arms. "Ugh, I'm ready to leave this core behind."</p><p>"The whole town will be waking up," Cassie said, as if the thought had suddenly occurred to her. "We should probably be there to say hello or something."</p><p>"Plus this place gives me the creeps," Lukas added, wrinkling his nose and making Jesse giggle slightly, ruffling a hand through his fluffy blonde hair. "Fair enough. Now c'mon, let's head out there!"</p><p>And all of them started walking out of the glowing red core for the last time, with not even a backwards glance.</p><p>"We did it," Jesse said softly, smiling around her as the sun came up, bathing the whole mesa in a pleasantly colored glow.</p><p>Lukas grinned and let out a sigh of relief. "Ahh... to be in control of my brain again! I choose where to go, I choose what to say..." and he stretched a bit, tail and ears twitching around in relief.</p><p>Harper looked uncomfortable, before adding softly, "Just remember, you were only chipped for a little while. The rest of the townspeople, though..." They all looked over, to see a huge crowd running around and cheering and doing their own thing happily.</p><p>Ivor winced a bit. "Yes, it must be a strange feeling... to suddenly be awake and aware after such a long time under PAMA's thrall..." he said, sounding slightly sympathetic, and a few people waved at them as they walked further into town, towards the computer screen which had the error sign on it.</p><p>"It's you! You're the one who saved us!" exclaimed a voice, and a male ran up to her, looking at the group with excited eyes- Harper hanging back a couple steps. "Who are you?"</p><p>"You fought so bravely," a woman behind him added, as another crowd crowded around them, "all of you!"</p><p>A few people were whispering and glancing at Jesse's extra arms, and Lukas's ears and tail, and Petra's glowing gold eyes, but Jesse didn't care, she was so relieved and so happy to see so many people safe.</p><p>Jesse smiled, and bowed a bit, her lower arms moving so they were behind her back. "Well, I'm Jesse, this is Ivor, that's Petra, that's Lukas, and this is Cassie," Cassie Rose blinking as Jesse gestured at the redhaired girl with her cat on her head. "The kitty's Winslow.. and we're the Order of the Stone!"</p><p>Several cheers, as Jesse shrugged with a small smile. Cassie was staring at her, eyes shining with gratitude. She lifted a finger and poked it against her chest, mouthing a soft "Me?"</p><p>Jesse nodded and mouthed back, a small smile on her face, "You."</p><p>"We're... well, um... a little over half of us are hybrids," Jesse said, smiling at Petra and Lukas, "and we do good deeds. Or, try to, at least."</p><p>The man looked impressed, rather grateful actually. "Wow! Well, thank you. We owe you everything."</p><p>"You're right," Harper said, giving Jesse's shoulder a squeeze and making her smile at the Old Builder, "Jesse and the Order of the Stone really are heroes. This wouldn't have happened without them."</p><p>"Harper," the man said, eyes widening, "is that... you?"</p><p>Harper fidgeted, her smile fading as she looked at the floor nervously, and Jesse suddenly remembered that she'd built PAMA. "Um... yes," she said, her voice smaller than before. "Hi, Harry."</p><p>"Oh, so Harry was a real person!" Cassie said in surprise to Petra (softly mind you, so the townspeople didn't hear). Petra shrugged in response. "Looks like."</p><p>The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously, people beginning to mutter. "You didn't do this to us... did you?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0141"><h2>141. Back to the Hallway</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Harper hugged her elbows to herself, and the woman next to him narrowed her eyes at the Old Builder. "You... did..."</p><p>"Nonono," Jesse said hastily, trotting over and putting a hand on the woman's shoulder, "Harper helped us defeat PAMA too."</p><p>"Yeah!" Cassie nodded rapidly, almost flipping her hair into her face. Pushing it aside impatiently, she added, "Without her help, I don't think we would've been able to beat the damn computer- oh, sorry, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse waved it off. "Nah, believe me, if I had a tongue as foul as yours I would've liked to curse PAMA into oblivion rather than dumping water all over it."</p><p>"Fortunately for PAMA, you are an innocent little cinnamon roll."</p><p>"How would that work, anyway? Would you wrap the dough around me or something? I never get that saying."</p><p>"I like it," Ivor raised his hand.</p><p>"It's really a funny saying though," Petra put in, "Jesse's not <em>that</em> innocent... she's pretty close, but not quite."</p><p>Lukas nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, she's like a cinnamon roll made with a teaspoon of salt."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes at the ocelot hybrid. "Gee, thanks," she remarked sardonically, a little smirk on her face.</p><p>"No problemo."</p><p>Some of the villagers towards the back were snickering at the little banter between the four of them, but Harry wasn't deterred. "So, what, we're just supposed to forgive her now?"</p><p>"No," the woman villager chuckled, "I don't think so."</p><p>Another man chimed in, "Harper stripped this place bare- how are we supposed to rebuild-?"</p><p>"Hey!" Cassie snapped, eyes flashing red as her head whipped around to face the villagers, "would you <em>give her a break?!</em> She's been trying to get you all out of this mess for <em>ages</em>, cut her some slack!"</p><p>Harper was staring at Cassie with an expression that was unreadable, except for the gratitude that was practically glowing in her eyes. Cassie relaxed, giving the Old Builder a small smile. "Besides, she's not that bad when you get to know her," she added.</p><p>Jesse took a deep breath and steepled her fingers together. "Well, whatever you guys decide to do, Harper will make things right, and be able to help you clean it all up," she said, calmly, rocking forward onto her tiptoes and then falling back down.</p><p>"I... I will?" Harper asked timidly.</p><p>"Yeah, she will?" one of the female townspeople asked flatly.</p><p>"Yeah." Jesse gave Harper a small smile, and her lower elbow gently elbowed the woman in the ribs. Harper nodded, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Yes. Yes I will. After I help these guys find their way home, I'll come back, help you all find new resources, and we can make this world great again."</p><p>Cassie stretched, lacing her fingers together behind her head. "Well, whatever Harper does, I have no doubt she can do it. This woman is <em>resourceful</em>."</p><p>Harper gave Cassie a weak smile, as one of the villagers shrugged. "Worth a shot, I guess."</p><p>Jesse clapped her hands together, a smile coming onto her face. "Uhm, well! I think that'd be our cue to set out for home... again... bye!" and the seven of them turned around and started trotting away through the sand and the clay.</p><p>Harper gave Jesse and Cassie a small smile. "Thanks for being so understanding, you two. I just hope these people can do the same when I come back again..."</p><p>"You helped <em>free</em> them. I'm sure they'll come around," Jesse responded, reaching out with her upper arm and giving the woman's shoulder a squeeze again.</p><p>Cassie shrugged, absentmindedly stroking Winslow. "Yeah, it's not very easy to stay mad at you," she said lazily, taking out a fish and holding it out to Winslow, who purred and started eating it, before glancing over to see Lukas staring at the fish intently as well.</p><p>"I'm glad you think so," Harper said, a small smile coming over her face again, eyes shining with gratitude.</p><p>Jesse turned around from where they were standing in front of the portal, smiling at them all. "Good luck, everyone!" she said cheerfully, all of them waving at the citizens of Crown Mesa.</p><p>"Yeah, we'll need it..."</p><p>"Thank you Jesse!"</p><p>Jesse turned back around with a tiny little smile playing on her face, pulling out the glowing blue flint and steel, leaning forward a bit so that the flint and steel hovered inside the portal, and gently clicked it together.</p><p>A red swirling substance burst into appearance inside the portal doorway, and the people started cheering. "See you soon, Harper!" one of the villagers called, looking less cross than before.</p><p>Harper gave a rather shy, hopeful wave. "See you soon!" she called back, and then stepped through, Lukas, Ivor, Cassie and Winslow following. Petra came up to it, before pausing and looking at her spider hybrid friend. "You know, Jesse, for all the grief we gave each other getting to this world," and she put a hand on the spider hybrid's shoulder, "I'm really glad we came."</p><p>Jesse smiled back at her friend, eyes crinkling up slightly. "Yeah, Petra. Me too." And the two of them disappeared through the portal too.</p><p>The electric shock was gone this time as the beads parted and they stepped into the pleasantly dark portal hallway, Jesse putting her hands on her hips. "Right back where we started," she said mildly, all of them looking around.</p><p>Lukas's eyebrow wrinkled as they all started following Harper, looking around the hallway. "Is it weird that I'm <em>happy</em> to see this place again?"</p><p>"Nahh," Jesse said, giving him a grin, "I'm kind of happy too. It's great that we might be able to get home soon."</p><p>"Now when we built this place," Harper said, glancing over her shoulder at the group of six (including Winslow), "we also made something that sorta acts as a compass-slash-map-slash-navigator... we called it 'the Atlas'."</p><p>Cassie's brow furrowed a little. "I don't think my aunt mentioned it to me... whatever, keep going, Harper."</p><p>"It helps chart routes between the worlds," Harper continued, before Petra asked, warily, "And... you have this Atlas, right?"</p><p>Harper winced a bit. "Ahhh... no. No I don't. But! But I know who does!"</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Well, it's still better than just randomly wandering the worlds and trying to blunder our way through it," she joked somewhat playfully. "So I guess it's not too bad."</p><p>"Don't you worry!" Harper said, reassuringly, "we'll just go right in, ask for the Atlas, and then you'll be home. No muss, no fuss... easy."</p><p>"Funny," Petra said somewhat flatly, "whenever someone says that my instincts start screaming 'danger.'"</p><p>Jesse chuckled a bit at that. "Yeah, I've learned that NOTHING is easy. NOTHING."</p><p>"Not even brewing a potion?"</p><p>"Not even that if you're us and Magnus and Axel are blowing up the coffee table every other frickin' day, no," Jesse responded promptly.</p><p>"True."</p><p>"In order to find the Atlas," Harper said, sounding faintly amused by their bantering, "we need to track down the rest of the... um, 'Old Builders'. Still don't like that name..."</p><p>"Okay, well, how do we find them, then?" Jesse asked patiently, "which portal do we go through?"</p><p>Harper blinked at that. "Oh! You don't have to go through another portal- what you're looking for has been right here the whole time!" She turned to the wall and slammed through a block, revealing a whole that extended back who-knows-how-far. "And there you go. All it's waiting for is the key."</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the Heart, which pulsed in her hands as she extended it towards the hole, and then pushed it into place.</p><p>The whole hallway started shaking, as a portal next to the recess where Jesse had placed the Redstone Heart slid down into the floor, revealing a long staircase that went up what seemed like endlessly. Jesse felt her jaw drop, as did everyone else's, even Cassie's. "No <em>way...</em>"</p><p>"The answers you're seeking, the Old Builder's Atlas, the way home," Harper said, walking up to Jesse, "they're all right up those stairs."</p><p>Jesse stepped to the base of the stairs, tipping her head back as she stared up the seemingly endless expanse of stairs.</p><p>Hopefully some of the more quiet answers, way in the back of her head, were going to be answered, too.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0142"><h2>142. Up the Stairs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lukas let out a low whistle, pulling out his journal. "<em>Wow.</em> That is... that's a lot of stairs."</p><p>Ivor hummed, putting a hand to his chin. "And all revealed by the Redstone Heart... amazing."</p><p>Harper grinned at him, making the pale Order of the Stone member flush a little bit, Cassie shooting him a teasing smile. "Yeah, not bad, right?"</p><p>Jesse went back over to the Heart and carefully pulled it out, holding it in her hands and feeling it pulse, before putting it back in her pocket.</p><p>Harper gestured, kindly. "After you."</p><p>Jesse looked up the stairs, a small smile on her face, as she bounced on the balls of her feet a bit. "Alrighty, time to get a move on." And they all started walking up the stairs, Jesse in the lead, Harper a little behind her.</p><p>"Actually, I've been wondering something for a while," Lukas spoke, making everyone look at him, "or... well, about three hours. When I was... chipped, I had a bunch of memories coming in and out of my head when PAMA wasn't talking. And I have to wonder, if we're hybrids, how did they get a hold of us as the ones they used as hybrids? And why <em>us</em>, for that matter?"</p><p>Harper took a minute to answer. "Well, when we were looking for good, uhm, test subjects for the experiments, we were told that the younger they were, the better the DNA would 'take'. So we went to go look through orphanages, to check for children that would be best for the experiments. Either their body structure was better, or their personality would suit the monster or mob we planned to combine them with. And that just happened to be only two children first- a spider and a wolf hybrid."</p><p>Jesse's lower arms started to fidget. "So... me and my brother then?"</p><p><em>"You have a brother?!</em>" everyone except for Cassie and Harper exclaimed, loudly. Their voices echoed along the long staircase a bit eerily.</p><p>Jesse chuckled, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. "Ah... yeah, I forgot to mention that, didn't I? Yeah, I think I had a brother, from the memories I'm getting back. And I think he has the same name I do, except I started calling him Jace after a while. He's my twin."</p><p>Petra's mouth was gaping open and shutting silently, gold eyes wide. Lukas was just staring at Jesse, tail not even twitching in shock, and Ivor looked... well, actually, he looked pretty impassive, but Jesse could see the shock in his dark blue eyes.</p><p>"Oh," Jesse spoke up suddenly, "I just remembered- Ivor, what possessed you to name me Jesse? That's actually my real name..."</p><p>Ivor blinked at the spider hybrid, processing the question for a moment, brow furrowing as he tried to remember. "... oh! Yes, I remember now. Soren sometimes mentioned someone called Jesse, although he never specified if it was a female or a male. So I thought he'd get a kick out of it."</p><p>Harper and Cassie made a sound in the back of their throat, making all of them look at the two females, who were sharing a confused look with the other. "Soren?" Harper asked, finally.</p><p>"Yes, why?"</p><p>The two girls shared another look, a wary sort of look on their face. "... it's nothing. Don't worry about it."</p><p>Ivor raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "All right."</p><p>"What does your brother look like?" Petra wondered, tilting her head at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse screwed her face up as she tried to remember. "Mmmm, he had eyes like mine, I think. And his hair was brown. He had some sort of... brownish wolf ears. And a tail. Can't forget the tail."</p><p>"It was a fluffy tail," Cassie agreed mildly, making Jesse snort at the redhead slightly. "But what happened to him?"</p><p>Harper's smirk fell. "Ah. Yes, that... well, after a while, Hadrian-"</p><p>"Who?"</p><p>"You'll meet him in a bit, don't worry about him," Harper said a bit dismissively, "anyway, we were going back to our... 'home base', for lack of a better term. We did it in your world because the climate was the most normal out of all of them, meaning that the lab wouldn't have to spend as much money on air conditioning and heating and all that. A-anyway, we had to head back to the 'home base', and Hadrian wanted to bring one of them back to study. The scientist- the head one, below us of course, wanted to study Jesse in more detail, so he decided on the wolf hybrid. Jesse put up quite the fuss, which meant that they had to utilize the memory chips I'd been working on."</p><p>"Ohh, is that why when PAMA chipped me I had a couple memories come back?"</p><p>"Possibly the signals were conflicting. I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to bet that's what happened. Anyhow," Harper said, hastily, "well, we took him back to the home base, about two years early. And he's been there since. Or... I'm fairly certain anyhow; I haven't seen him in about eight or nine years."</p><p>Jesse opened her mouth to say something, hesitated, and then shut it again. "I see."</p><p>Harper looked around, looking rather nostalgic. "Feels like just yesterday we were building this place... still don't agree with some of the aesthetic choices."</p><p>Jesse snorted, the sad mood from a moment ago disappearing at the comment. "Well, I like it. This place is awesome!"</p><p>"Well, it's not terribly bad," Harper said mildly, before adding, softer than before, "kinda thought I'd never need to come back, to tell you the truth."</p><p>They stepped out into a huge, open space, blocks hanging in midair around the lo-o-ong staircase. Jesse couldn't help but stare around at the place, green and red eyes shining. "This is lovely," she said mildly.</p><p>"Oohhh," Petra said teasingly, "I'm sensing a story here."</p><p>Harper hesitated, before saying, not sounding terribly amused, "I guess you could say that."</p><p>"Aw, c'mon, Harper, going home is fun!" Jesse said mildly, Winslow meowing his agreement and Lukas meowing back.</p><p>Harper grimaced as the two cats engaged in a conversation, "The others might not be 100% happy to see me."</p><p>Ivor's dark blue eyes lit up. "Others? You mean we're going to meet MORE Old Builders?"</p><p>"Still don't like it when you call us that," Harper remarked, before continuing, "Yep, but I gotta warn ya, they're not as friendly as I am. I'm probably one of the, ah... nicest 'Old Builders'."</p><p>Jesse shrugged as Cassie rubbed her arm sheepishly, "Well I'm glad you're on our side. Old Builder or not, you've been pretty cool thus far."</p><p>Harper blinked, a small smile coming over her face. "Well thank you, Jesse. I hope I can keep living up to that."</p><p>"This is worse than Soren's End fortress staircase," Lukas grumbled in complaint, breaking out of cat language.</p><p>Jesse snorted. "Oh yeah, Axel would not have enjoyed this too much. But hey, we're just gonna get the Atlas, and then go home, right?"</p><p>Harper hesitated before answering. "... kind of? The Atlas isn't exactly mine to give. It belongs to the other... 'Old Builders'. And... well, they might not want to give it up."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0143"><h2>143. More Stairs (Ugh)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Harper," Jesse said warily, slowing to a stop, all of them looking at the Old Builder, "I thought that's why we brought you... to convince them to give it to us. You're not gonna let us down, right?" She made sure to keep her tone light, so as to not sound accusing. Once she hadn't actually done that and the person she'd been asking had gotten super offended. She was doing her best to not repeat that little gaffe. She'd done a pretty good job of it thus far.</p><p>"I'm gonna do my best," Harper said, not sounding all that enthusiastic about their chances, "but I warn you now, there could be..." A short hesitation. "...complications."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes. "Oh, joy- I <em>love</em> complications," she grumbled sarcastically. "My entire <em>life</em> feels like one big thing of complications."</p><p>"True."</p><p>"Not helping, Petra."</p><p>Cassie looked at the woman warily, slowly crossing her arms as the two girls jokingly glared at each other in the background. "I think I might know, but for the sake of everyone else here... what sort of complications?" she asked, Winslow also tilting his head questioningly at the Old Builder along with everyone else.</p><p>Harper didn't answer, before responding quietly, "You'll see when you get there." With that quiet statement, they all resumed walking up the staircase.</p><p>Lukas took Jesse's sleeve, tugging her back a couple steps and making the girl slow down to avoid toppling down the stairs (yeah, Jesse did NOT want that to happen). "Jesse, c'mere- are you sure we can trust Harper?" he hissed softly, warily glancing at the Old Builder up ahead, "Look at all of our interactions with her so far. They haven't exactly been... great."</p><p>Jesse was suddenly reminded that while she'd spent a while with the Old Builder, Lukas hadn't, and therefore had no idea what to expect from the white-haired woman, while Jesse at least had an inkling. Even if that inkling was very, very small.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Well, she <em>did</em> save all our lives. And if Cassie trusts her, I trust her," she stated, calmly.</p><p>Lukas let out a little sigh, batting at his ears gently. "Well, if Cassie trusts her, Winslow trusts Cassie, and if Winslow trusts Cassie, I guess that means I trust her too," he said softly, sounding a little downcast.</p><p>"Don't worry," and Jesse ran her fingers through Lukas's hair, making him purr softly, "we're gonna get the Atlas, and we're gonna get home. Promise."</p><p>"I'm glad you feel that way, Jesse," and both of them jumped, Jesse's hand hitting the top of Lukas's head sharply and his tail bushing out so it looked like a cactus, only... yellow and fluffy, as they looked up to the Old Builder, who was smiling faintly from where she was standing at the top of the staircase. "Sorry, I couldn't resist a good eavesdrop," she apologized as Jesse babbled out a nervous apology to Lukas, who was rubbing his head with a playful little grin.</p><p>"I'm not sure whether to be disturbed by that," Jesse said with some amusement in her voice as she pulled her hand away, "or amused."</p><p>Petra snorted at that, covering her mouth with her hand. Lukas leaned over to the Blaze hybrid, his mouth twitching as he tried not to burst out laughing. "Petra, so help me, if you're laughing I will <em>smite</em> you." The threat was not as impressive as it would've been if he hadn't been about to giggle himself.</p><p>Ivor had a pretty impassive face, but he looked as though he was about to smirk a bit, his mouth twitching faintly. Cassie elbowed him with a smirk. "Hey, your girlfriend likes eavesdropping," she teased. Winslow sniggered.</p><p>"Oh shut up."</p><p>Harper smirked a bit as well, not having heard the last part. "I promise you both, I <em>am</em> trying to help," she said calmly, as the both of them trotted up to the last landing, coming to a plain set of wooden double doors. The others looked around, Petra looking over the edge as if to check for ground, which, besides the staircase, there appeared to be a grand total of none.</p><p>"You just gotta head through that door," Harper added.</p><p>Jesse blinked at that. After what felt like <em>weeks</em> of portal hopping (wait, how long had it actually <em>been?</em> They'd been in that portal hallway without a calendar or any way of actually telling time... how long had they not been in their world?), it was really weird to just see a plain old door and be told that the way home was just right behind that door. Well, not directly... oh you know what she meant. "A door? Like a regular door?"</p><p>Harper gave the spider hybrid a small grin. "Time for you to see and find out."</p><p>Jesse's middle set of arms reached out and took ahold of the metal door handles and pulled it open towards her in a smooth moment, flinching as a hot white light hit her eyeballs.</p><p>"Ah, very- very bright," Ivor winced, covering his eyes and squinting.</p><p>"Yikes," Petra agreed.</p><p>Lukas shook his head and covered his eyes, tail swishing around. "Whoa," he agreed.</p><p>"Before you go in there, I think Harper has one more piece of advice," Cassie spoke up, as Jesse's upper arms moved to shield her eyes, squinting into the white light.</p><p>If Jesse had been able to see, she would've seen Harper nodding sagely. "Yes, yes I do. Don't die!"</p><p>It took Jesse about a second to process what the Old Builder had just told her. "Wait, wh-"</p><p>Someone suddenly rammed into her, making the spider hybrid lose her balance and let out a yell of shock as she fell through the doorway, into empty space, gravity no longer existing around her as the four of them fell.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0144"><h2>144. Spleef</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse slammed full force into something cold, getting a mouthful of... snow. But it wasn't THAT cold...</p><p>"Come on, Nell!"</p><p>"I'm trying, Em!"</p><p>"Would you two stop bickering already?!</p><p>Jesse bolted to her feet, spitting out the snow, mouth falling open at the sight of people in red and green running around the area with shovels, and some of them wearing gray helmets. Looking around, Jesse spotted a head wearing a white beanie covering chocolate-brown hair near them, and a couple more feet away was a blonde girl dealing with some guy wearing the gray-and-red uniform.</p><p>People were hitting each other over, there were people above throwing TNT down at them, and the white blocks of snow were getting knocked away beneath people's feet, one block of TNT detonating near their feet and making Jesse backpedal a couple of steps to avoid getting blown apart.</p><p>"Well, what do we have here?"</p><p>Jesse felt a chill shoot right up her spine, eyes widening in shock.</p><p>Why did that voice sound familiar?</p><p>"It seems as if some new competitors have entered the match!" the voice continued, as the four of them drew their swords and held them at the ready, staring around at the utter <em>chaos</em> around them.</p><p>"My, isn't that special?" A woman's voice sounded, as Petra practically screamed over the 'announcers' or whatever they were supposed to be, "What in the world did Harper dump us into?!"</p><p>"It's- it's like some sort of crazy game!" Jesse exclaimed, looking around her. It was the first thing that popped into her head at the sight of people wearing the same colors, the same sort of uniform, whacking the blocks out beneath people's feet.</p><p>The guy wearing the beanie straightened up a bit when he heard her (or, well, it seemed like it, but Jesse could've been mistaken), but still didn't turn around to face Jesse.</p><p>"You think this is a <em>game?!</em>" Ivor almost squeaked, stepping back so that his back ran into the others, all of them back-to-back with their swords out.</p><p>Lukas shook his head, making his ears twitch. "No, no, Jesse's right- SPLEEF!" he exclaimed.</p><p>Ivor stared at the blonde ocelot hybrid, looking confused. "Gesundheit?!"</p><p>Lukas shook his head rather violently at Ivor's questioning response, ears flapping even more furiously. "No- it's a game! You try to knock the floor out from under other people and make them fall!"</p><p>Jesse was half listening when she spotted a guy in green hoisting a shovel into the air. "Be like Tim!" he bellowed, and then charged at Jesse, who dove sideways automatically, tackling Lukas out of the way as Petra and Ivor leaped sideways. Jesse glanced down to see some lava blocked by glass beneath them, before glancing up to see the guy charging again.</p><p>Jesse reacted- raising a hand, lower arm whipping out her sword, she shot a web at the guy, which slammed into his chest and made him stagger- and trip backwards through the gap he'd just made, falling to the ground. He got up, horror in his eyes-</p><p>Before blocks propelled by pistons crushed him, exploding into dust and leaving his items on the floor.</p><p>Jesse cringed as she stepped backward in shock, reminded forcibly of Soren's grinder.</p><p>"Argh!" groaned a big burly girl with brown hair that might've been bigger than <em>Axel</em>, "that was one of my only decent teammates!"</p><p>Jesse winced sheepishly. "Oops."</p><p>The burly girl gave her a look of utter hatred, and she raced towards Petra, who was doing her best to not fly and shock everyone to pieces. A little ways away, Ivor was staggering out of the way as flaming arrows slammed into the ground in front of him.</p><p>Every hair on the back of Jesse's neck stood up, as did Lukas's' hair, and they both instinctively looked up to see a flashing block of TNT fly down at them-</p><p>Jesse instinctively slammed Lukas to the side with her arms, the TNT blasting her sideways and making her topple dangerously close to an opening, which she quickly scrambled away from, heart hammering in her chest so hard that she felt almost as if it were about to burst.</p><p>Petra hovered into the air and dove out of the way, looking as though she'd simply made a huge jump as she rolled away, Ivor leaping backwards in alarm with a yell as more arrows came down at him, fiery and flaming and dangerous.</p><p>A blur of yellow passed Jesse, tail flapping in the air- <em>Lukas</em>, of course he'd do something like that- and Jesse dodged out of the way and ran towards Petra, who looked noticeably shaken. "Petra, you okay?" she asked, shakily.</p><p>"Terrified out of my wits," Petra squeaked, from where she was rigidly kneeling, "but yeah, I-I think I'm fine, I don't think I got hurt..." She got back to her feet, before her eyes widened. "<em>CRAP!</em>"</p><p>Jesse spun on her heel, feeling dread shoot through her like a bullet-</p><p>Lukas and Ivor fell with twin yells, a blonde girl swiping her shovel beneath the both of them, and they plummeted downwards, hitting the glass with a grunt. The both of them lunged to their feet, spinning to look up at the two girls, standing on the ledge above them with horrified looks on their faces, Jesse frozen still in absolute horror. "Jess-"</p><p>The 'grinder' did its job, slamming together and making the two of them vanish in a puff of smoke.</p><p>Jesse's eyes widened in shock, everything seeming to fall out beneath her. Emotions bubbled up inside of her, bubbling and seething and boiling, until it came out in a scream that Jesse had never expected could come out of her mouth, could never be produced by her, not this horribly raw scream, and screaming the one thing she'd been trying to correct herself for such a long time now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0145"><h2>145. Jace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Whoa, no way dude!" Jesse could hear someone speaking over the numb feeling in her body, "I got a double!"</p><p>Jesse looked up, to see the blonde from earlier jumping and pumping her fist in the air.</p><p>Jesse didn't know what she was doing, but suddenly she was storming towards the blond girl with sword in hand, hand so tight on the hilt it was practically breaking, red eye glowing with utter <em>fury</em> and heart hurting so much that it almost hurt to inhale, a hissing sound coming out of her lungs as she slammed into the girl, sending her flying backwards.</p><p>"Whoa!" the girl exclaimed, scrambling away from Jesse as the black-haired girl stalked towards her, "this is a misunderstanding, dude! What are you doing?!"</p><p>"Hey!" barked a voice, and Jesse, feeling cold and numb and in pain, turned her head almost mechanically to look at the brown-haired girl from earlier, who was glaring at her. "Using weapons is against the rules!"</p><p>Jesse blinked slowly, mechanically, eye still glowing. "'Rules?'" she asked, voice sounding colder than ice.</p><p>"Not cool, dude," some guy up in the... 'bleachers' or whatever the heck they were said darkly, trotting down towards the spider hybrid, "so NOT COOL."</p><p>And he chucked a block of TNT at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse felt rage welling up in her, cutting over the numbness- why was she so damn <em>numb</em> right now?- and with a scream, she slammed the blade into the TNT, sending it flying back at the guy and making him let out a yell as he was blasted off the 'bleachers'.</p><p>"Slab is down!" called a voice, "I repeat, Slab is down!"</p><p>Jesse kept advancing toward the blonde, when suddenly she saw a flash of green, and looked up.</p><p>Immediately her numbing rage was stripped away, mouth falling open just a bit, so barely that it would've taken a miracle to see it.</p><p>Standing a little ways behind the blonde, there was a boy about Jesse's height standing there, the boy in the beanie. His chocolate brown hair was mashed beneath the beanie, and his emerald-green eyes- <em>exactly the same as Jesse's-</em> were wide as he stared at her.</p><p>Jesse lowered her sword slowly, staring at the boy, mouth hanging open even more now.</p><p>"Stop the match!" shouted the eerily familiar voice, but Jesse wasn't paying attention to that voice, she was staring at someone who looked eerily familiar, someone who she hadn't seen in over ten years.</p><p>Jesse lowered her sword, the shouts of the announcers being blocked out, and stepped over the quaking blonde, going over to the brown-haired boy, who looked equally stunned.</p><p>"Jesse?" Petra asked, but Jesse still wasn't paying attention.</p><p>She slowly raised her upper right hand into a fist, staring at the boy, who slowly raised his fist and bumped it against hers. The two of them then slapped their palms together in a high five, and then wound their pinkies into a pinkie promise. Jesse then shakily pulled her hand back, and crossed her heart, which he matched, and then they both slowly covered their eyes.</p><p>For a moment, the two of them stood there, one of each lowering their arms, still staring.</p><p>And then Jesse tackled him off the platform.</p><p>"That's against the rules, right?" the guy Jesse had rebounded the TNT at- Slab, she was fairly certain- asked, glaring at the spider hybrid, who was currently on the floor on top of the boy and hugging him tightly, both of them hugging each other as if their life depended on it and speaking over each other in a blur of words.</p><p>
  <em>"I can't believe it you're here-"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"How in the world did you get here, I don't believe it-"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You're okay, you're actually okay-"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"How did you remember me?!-"</em>
</p><p>"Jace, do you know this chick?" asked the blonde, looking confused.</p><p>Jesse let go of him, turning to stare at the blonde, Petra's mouth (Petra was standing a little ways behind her) open as her eyes flicked between Jesse and Jace, eyes widening to the size of saucers.</p><p>"You could say that," the boy said, in a surprisingly steady voice as his head swivelled to face her, "this is my twin sister."</p><p>The blonde's eyes widened, and she turned to look at Jesse again, a small, nervous smile coming over her face. "I didn't think we could throw TNT back AT the gladiators. Nice one, brah."</p><p>Jesse stared at her, then back at Jace. "It's you," she said breathlessly, mouth still hanging open. "It's really you."</p><p>Jace was staring at Jesse as well, as if he was trying to drink in every last detail of the black-haired spider hybrid, extra arms and all. "Yeah," he agreed, sounding out of breath as he slowly pulled off his beanie to reveal a pair of brown wolf ears, that twitched slightly on his head, "yeah."</p><p>And then suddenly started, blinking at her. "<em>Oh</em>... okay, now I'm starting to see why you got so pissed off... this is kind of confusing for you, isn't it?"</p><p>Jesse stared at her brother, a flatter look coming over her face. She was starting to go numb inside again. "Confusing is putting it mildly. What in the name of <em>frickin' Notch</em> is going on here?" she asked, spreading her arms.</p><p>"Hang on, dude," the blonde girl spoke up, making the twins look back at her simultaneously, "none of us are in charge here. It's <em>them.</em>" And she pointed, Jesse's gaze following her hand to platform way up there. Jesse didn't have the BEST of vision, but she could make out a woman with pale blue hair and a red outfit, a man with white hair wearing a purple outfit (Jesse felt chills run up her spine at the familiar purple outfit- it was the man who'd taken her brother from her) and a man with dark skin and a white beard, wearing green.</p><p>"Yes, WE'RE the ones in charge here," the pale-blue-haired woman said, sharply.</p><p>"And we have <em>never</em> had to stop a match," the man in the purple suit said, equally sharply, "<em>Ever.</em>"</p><p>Jesse's fists clenched as she glared at him, feeling anger, but a duller sense of it flaring in the pit of her stomach.</p><p>"It definitely is strange, Mevia," the man in green said, "what is going on here?"</p><p>"I want an explanation," the man in the purple suit said sharply, "<em>immediately.</em>"</p><p>And the three of them started building their way down, in a spiraling staircase of obsidian, gold, and iron, slamming into the ground and strolling over to them.</p><p>"I think," Jesse said faintly, making Petra glance at her, "we've just met the Old Builders."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0146"><h2>146. In Which Quite a Lot of Yelling Happens</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"This is going to require some reconfiguring of the stats for sure..." the man in green sighed.</p><p>Jesse's eye twitched, and she raised her finger. "Okay. You're in charge. Lovely. Wonderful. Now, please explain what in the name of everything good and holy and alive in this world what the absolute <em>frick</em> is going on?!" she said, barely able to keep from yelling at the top of her lungs.</p><p>"What's going on here," the pale-blue-haired woman said, glaring at the spider hybrid, "is <em>you</em> just ruined our round of Spleef."</p><p>"Attacking competitors," the purple-suited man snapped, "Horrid!"</p><p>"And technically against the rules," the man in green added.</p><p>The pale-blue-haired woman sniffed. "Lashing out <em>just</em> because your friends were eliminated."</p><p>"Kind of 'sore loser' behavior, don't you think, sport?"</p><p>Jace frowned at the purple-suited man.</p><p>Jesse threw her arms in the air, ignoring the gasps as all six of them flared out. "Well, <em>excuse</em> me for being thrown into your little death game here, out of nowhere, falling from the effing <em>sky</em>, and then watching my d-" She closed her eyes, feeling something flicker through her. "... <em>mentor.</em> My best friend and <em>mentor</em> get killed right in front of my freaking eyes, and having no idea what in the name of Notch is going on. So, <em>thank you </em>for that <em>extraordinarily</em> terrible explanation of what the absolute <em>frick</em> is going on, you- you- you <em>Old Builders!</em>"</p><p>"Easy, easy," and a hand lazily patted on her shoulder, her brother's almost musical tone humming into her ear, making the spider hybrid stop seeing red and relax, her red eye going back to a faintly duller shade as she let out a loud, frustrated huff and continued, more calmly than before, "Okay, please tell me straight, then. What are these 'games' that you all keep going on about?"</p><p>The man in green spoke up, putting up his hands placatingly. "I think if we all just calm down, Jace and I can explain."</p><p>Jesse turned to her brother immediately, crossing all of her arms and arching her eyebrow at him. Every human being in the room standing behind them a bit seemed to be holding their breaths.</p><p>Jace was twisting his beanie in his hands, before he started speaking, quietly. "Your friends aren't dead."</p><p>Jesse's mouth fell open, and she was about to exclaim, when he put a finger on her mouth and she shut it immediately, knowing that he didn't want to be interrupted. "When people are eliminated in the games, they don't <em>die</em>, per se-"</p><p>"That would be wasteful!" the man in the purple suit snapped.</p><p>Jace shot him a look, as the pale-blue-haired woman spoke up, "<em>Obviously!</em> They come back and then we have them go work in the mines!"</p><p>"Jesse!"</p><p>Jesse spun on her heel, seeing Lukas at the bars, ocelot ears twitching and his tail bushy with fear, as one of the 'gladiators' grabbed ahold of him, Ivor's mouth falling open behind them. Jesse felt a rush of relief in her chest, but she didn't say anything, just staring at them as they were towed away.</p><p>"Your friends are alive and well."</p><p>"How?" Jesse asked, her head slowly turning to reveal her red eye first, "how are they alive?"</p><p>The purple suited man chuckled, "I'm not surprised that you're confused-"</p><p>Jace shot him a look and spoke over him, giving the purple-suited man an almost funny look. "It's called 'respawning'. When people 'die' in the games, they reappear in a respawn zone. However, the scientists they have-" Now he was definitely giving them a funny look- "... well, they can pretty much fix most things that go wrong with respawn zones."</p><p>"I hear it's still pretty painful, though," the woman spoke up, Jesse's head spinning to look at her again.</p><p>"Well sport," the purple-suited guy spoke, "now that you've come and interrupted our games, I'm sure our fans would LOVE to hear how to you got here. <em>Spill.</em>"</p><p>Jesse glared at him. "... I don't think I've forgiven you, by the way. Like, <em>at all,</em>" she hissed, all of her arms crossing, "but I'm sure you remember your little... um... lab, back in my world? Bureau of Amalgamology? Long story short, they were careless, we got out, did a bunch of crazy things, managed to end up in your mile-long portal network, and then found a staircase and fell right into the middle of your <em>lovely</em> games, and so help me, if I didn't feel like I was going numb right now, I think I'd be throwing every single thing in my inventory right at your head."</p><p>"You have a lovely temper, sis," Jace remarked drily.</p><p>"Why thank you, brother dear," Jesse retorted sardonically.</p><p>Petra made a sound that sounded faintly like a snort. A still remarkably annoyed snort, but a snort.</p><p>The man in the purple suit glared at Jesse. "You know what you are, <em>champ?</em> You're just a little gate crasher."</p><p>"Annnd what do we do with gate crashers?"</p><p>"Kill 'em, and send them to the mines," the guy Jesse had whacked said, darkly.</p><p>"Back off!" Two voices spoke in sync, Jace moving and putting a protective arm in front of his sister, his teeth showing to reveal sharp canines, and Harper and Cassie stepped through a doorway above them.</p><p>"Jesse's with me," Harper said simply. Cassie's face, having been rather calm, suddenly darkened.</p><p>The man in the purple suit sneered at the two females. "Well, if it isn't Harper... and my, my, little Cassie Rose, too... how's your aunt?"</p><p>Cassie seemed to snap, and suddenly she was lunging at the man in the purple suit, swinging her axe at his head-</p><p>"Whoa, Cassie!" Jesse exclaimed, and even though she was pretty ticked at the guy in the purple suit, she was utterly <em>shocked</em> at Cassie's sudden display of violence, and she shot a web and yanked Cassie to her in a hug from behind, wrapping all of her arms around the redhead, who was flailing her arms and kicking and trying to hit the man with her axe, face darker than a thunderstorm and eyes glowing blood red. "<em>Let me at him!</em>" she hissed, furiously.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0147"><h2>147. In Which Cassie is Given Calming Potions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse stared at Cassie, who was struggling and thrashing in her grip like a rather large viper, before looking at Petra. "I think she's kind of pissed," she said mildly.</p><p>"I'll say... why though?" Petra wondered, staring at the practically rabid Cassie, who looked as though she was more in the mood to kill someone than to do anything else.</p><p>Jesse sighed, swivelled Cassie around, and, with a quick, mumbled apology, brought her hand in a sharp slap across the red-haired girl's face. Cassie stumbled back, one hand cupping her now-red cheek, red eyes wide in surprise.</p><p>"Rose, please at least wait until after they finish explaining things to kill them," she sighed, putting her hands on the red-haired and now red-eyed girl's shoulder.</p><p>"I can't tell if you're joking," Jace said, with a nervous chuckle and glance at the 'Old Builders'.</p><p>Jesse thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged at her twin. "Neither can I."</p><p>Petra stifled a snort at this.</p><p>Cassie shot the Old Builders a venomous look. If looks could kill, they'd have died from a poison stronger than Jesse's- and you'd be hard-pressed to find it. "Fine, but if we're gonna kill them, I have dibs on going first," she growled, crossing her arms and glaring at them.</p><p>Jesse shrugged, one hand still on the girl's shoulder (both in a comforting way and in a restraining way), and then reached into her pocket and handed her a vial of clear liquid. "Here, have some water, 'kay?"</p><p>Cassie looked at the water, before taking it with a still rather stormy expression and chugging it down in about two swallows.</p><p>Her shoulders suddenly relaxed, and her expression became much more mild. "I don't much care if <em>you</em> were joking earlier, after they explain things I might actually kill them," she said rather serenely. A short silence. "Calming potion?"</p><p>"Calming potion," Jesse agreed serenely, "Ivor whipped me up some in case I had nightmares."</p><p>Cassie shrugged and handed her back the vial, looking vaguely annoyed. "Fair enough, but once this wears off I'm seriously going to jump them."</p><p>"Fair enough," Jesse agreed, putting the vial back into her pocket.</p><p>Otto cleared his throat, making the four teenagers swivel their heads to look at him. "I must say, this return <em>is</em> rather unexpected."</p><p>"Forget me returning, Cassie trying to jump Hadrian was unexpected," Harper muttered with a raised eyebrow at the red-haired teen, who responded with a mild shrug. "We're here for Jesse."</p><p>"Ohhh," 'Hadrian' said, a sarcastic look in his eyes, "<em>really.</em>"</p><p>"So tell me champ, why do you <em>think</em> Harper brought you here?"</p><p>Jesse looked around the 'stadium', before looking back to Hadrian with a plain expression.</p><p>"My bet's on 'pet spider'. That'd be pretty cute, right?"</p><p>"<em>Adorable</em>," the pale-blue-haired woman said with a smirk.</p><p>Jesse suddenly got this mental image of herself wearing a pink bow and being on a leash, and started smirking. She tried not to look at Petra or Jace- judging by their giggles they'd gotten a similar image.</p><p>Cassie flipped Hadrian off serenely, making the giggles amplify and Jesse start snickering, covering her mouth with one hand as Winslow gave his owner an admonishing look and she lowered her hand with a faintly apologetic shrug.</p><p>"Uh, <em>no</em>. Please don't make me laugh again... we just want to get our friends and go home," Jesse said, trying to stop snickering and failing.</p><p>"Sorry chief," Hadrian said, looking disgruntled at the fact that three of the four teenagers were now having a little giggling fit. "But this is your home now."</p><p>That put an end to it.</p><p>"Might as well get comfy," the pale-blue-haired woman spoke.</p><p>Jesse put her hands up. "Okay, one second. What in the frickin' world are your-" she pointed at the man in green, and the pale-blue haired woman, "-names? I don't want to just go 'hey you' if I'm trying to address someone other than Mr. Purple Guy here."</p><p>Petra jumped up and ran off to the side, her laughter becoming audible the moment she was out of sight. Jace rolled his eyes and gave his twin a lazy look. "D'you mind if I go fetch her back?"</p><p>"Not at all. Go get the Blaze Rod, boy," Jesse said, patting his head. Jace's tail started to wag, and a dazed sort of look came into his eyes. "That's... ah... that's actually... really nice..."</p><p>Jesse stopped patting him and snatched her hand back, giving him a pat on the back instead. "I'll pet you more if you go get Petra."</p><p>He was gone the moment the last word came out of her mouth, leaving nothing but a little trail of dust behind him. Jesse bit back a snicker, before turning back to the two Old Builders. "Well?"</p><p>"I'm Otto," the man in green said, pretty serenely, before gesturing at the pale blue-haired woman, "and this is Mevia."</p><p>"Nice to meet you, I guess. And... about this being my home now?" Her light, almost cheerful tone suddenly turned icy cold, and Harper took a step back in surprise, Cassie just looking mildly surprised. "<strong>Absolutely freaking not.</strong> We have been wandering your portal network for <em>ages</em>. <em>We-are-going- <strong>home.</strong></em>"</p><p>Hadrian scowled at the spider hybrid, who had an equally pissed off expression on her face. "Meaning... you need my Atlas. Very interesting. That's all well and all, but I'm confused. Why would we give ANYTHING to someone like you?"</p><p>Jace came back, towing Petra in behind him, as Jesse said, slowly, thoughtfully, "because I have something you want."</p><p>Hadrian sneered at Jesse. "I doubt you would have <em>anything</em> that would interest us."</p><p>Cassie opened her mouth to speak, but Jesse cut off the red-haired girl with a look, before reaching into her pocket and feeling around for a moment.</p><p>She felt it. The beating of a heart, a heart that was really just a power source, a Heart that was probably something that these people wanted back.</p><p>She hoped, at least.</p><p>Jesse held out the beating, glowing Redstone Heart.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0148"><h2>148. It's a Deal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse smirked at Hadrian, who was gaping at her, lower arms holding the Heart, upper arms crossing. "I present..."</p><p>"The Redstone Heart," he gasped. "Seems like just yesterday SOMEONE took off with that and vowed 'never to return with it'."</p><p>He glared at Harper.</p><p>"My respect levels for this woman have shot through the roof," Petra stated, raising her hand.</p><p>"Where were they before?"</p><p>"Still pretty damn high."</p><p>Jesse smirked at that, Harper looking pleased at the compliment. "Technically," she said, trying not to outright grin, "I didn't bring it back. Jesse did."</p><p>"Thing's no toy, slugger," Hadrian said, looking at Jesse, examining the Heart, "how about you just hand it over, huh? It can be, ha, pretty dangerous is you don't know how to use it."</p><p>"You mean a killer computer could come out and mind-control everyone, making everything 'useful' and taking control of my friends," Jesse deadpanned, "been there, done that. And yeeeahhhh... no. You are not getting one finger on this thing here until you give me my friends and get us home."</p><p>"I'm not a big fan of haggling, Jesse," Hadrian said, drily. "Here's the way <em>my</em> offer works: You give me the Heart. You and your friends go back down to those portals. I never look at your insignificant face again."</p><p>Jace growled softly.</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow. "That is easily the worst deal I've EVER heard. And that includes the time one of the scientists promised me a piece of yarn if I went to take one of their <em>stupid</em> tests."</p><p>Petra snorted, and even Cassie looked faintly amused, from where she was standing with her arms crossed.</p><p>"Okay, look, <em>maybe</em>," Jesse said, more calmly this time, as she put the Redstone Heart back in her pocket, "things got a bit out of hand. So why don't we start over, and try to reach an agreement?"</p><p>Hadrian arched his eyebrow and shrugged a bit. "Okay, okay... fine. I can always appreciate someone trying to be reasonable. Well... you need the Atlas. And <em>I</em>... need competitors. After your unexpected intrusion, I seem to be short a team. So how about this- you play in the games, with restrictions on your power-"</p><p>"<strong>Absolutely. Not.</strong>"</p><p>Jesse looked at her brother in surprise, his tail ramrod straight and green eyes both glowing bright red. "If you let me use <em>my</em> powers, it won't matter if you let two more people use <em>theirs.</em> It's still a... like, what, ten to one ratio. If you try to restrain their powers or ban them, so help me, I will do <em>everything</em> in my power to get them back out."</p><p>Hadrian put up his hands in surrender, shooting the wolf hybrid a disgruntled look. "Fine, fine," he grunted, glancing back to Jesse, "You play in the games, and if you <em>win...</em> the Atlas is yours to keep. It's a good deal, Jesse. Trust me."</p><p>Jesse trusted him about as much as she could throw him (and to be fair, she was VERY curious to see how much that was), but she crossed her arms, giving him a look that promised that she'd sic Cassie Rose on him if he broke this deal of theirs. "Can't <em>wait</em> to see what the other games are," she said, sarcastically, "sure hope they're <em>fun</em>."</p><p>Hadrian grinned almost sadistically. This worried Jesse. "Well, there you have it! A deal has been struck! To the games!"</p><p>"All right then," Otto said calmly, "I suppose that means we can carry on with the official addendum-"</p><p>Hadrian waved him off, stepping in front of the green-clad man, "Ugh, Otto, enough, add it on your own time." And then he seemed to start a bit. "Oh, but there's one other thing I want. If they lose... Harper and Cassie have to go the mines, too."</p><p>Cassie serenely said something so rude it did not bear repeating.</p><p>"Oh, gravel," Harper said flatly, with an annoyed sigh.</p><p>"Harper," Hadrian said, lightly, "wanna be a friend and show our new competitors where they'll be staying?"</p><p>"Yeah, c'mon, Harper," Jace said, eyes lighting up a bit as his tail wagged cheerfully, "we can play fetch!"</p><p>Harper let a wry smile come over her face. "All right. You come with us too, then, Jace." And they all turned around and started trotting out of the room.</p><p>"Jesse," Harper said, smile falling as they turned around, "this was not part of the plan. Wrapped up in one of Hadrian's 'deals'... <em>ugh.</em> He's not one to let other people get the upper hand, ya know."</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms, giving the Old Builder a hard look, Petra and Jace engaging in a conversation as Cassie trotted along behind them, still looking incredibly serene. "Harper, how bad is this gonna be, give it to me straight..."</p><p>Harper sighed, rubbing her brow with an agitated expression. "Well, it's not gonna be a cakewalk, that's for sure. I'm... I'm sorry, okay? I really am. Lemme show you where the competitor village is."</p><p>Jace nodded, still fidgeting with his beanie. "Yeah, it's nice! You'd like it! I think. Would you like it? I actually have no idea, but I like it, so you might like it, so-"</p><p>"I get it, I get it," Jesse teased, giving her twin a little shove and making him stick his tongue out at her playfully, whereupon she went and scratched him behind the ears, making a soft sound come out of his throat. "I didn't know wolves could purr," she joked, green eyes soft.</p><p>The two redheads behind her shared a knowing sort of smile as Jace let out a sound that sounded <em>remarkably</em> like a purr. "I'd totally claw you for that... but I won't hold it against you... if you keep petting... especially if you move a little lower..." And his tail wagged even harder than before as they trotted out the door.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0149"><h2>149. Competitor Village</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The landscape around them was covered in snow, huge cliffs rising from the ground as they walked out of the side of one, towering over them as they trotted along one of the paths.</p><p>"We used to have competitors from all over travel here to play in the games," Harper said, a small smile on her mouth, before the smile fell. "Before the others ruined it."</p><p>"So what happened?" Jesse asked.</p><p>"Hadrian and Mevia let power go to their heads- they started pitting people against each other just for sport," Harper said, punctuated with an unhappy sigh as they came to a huge, walled area. "Forcing people to be here... it just isn't right."</p><p>They came to a big, blue wool gate, Harper sighing and walking towards the gate, looking rather glum. "C'mon- I'll show you where you'll be staying."</p><p>Jesse took one quick look around her, spotting some polar bears in the distance, before following Harper into the walled 'city', bricks lining the roads of houses and stores and other things. It was actually really pretty, people racing around each other and walking around this huge pedestal with a picture of some guy wearing fancy armor on it. "Well, here it is- the competitor village. Sort of a 'home away from home' for all the people playing the games."</p><p>Jesse looked around, seeing different colored uniforms- purple, blue, yellow... "All of these people are in the games?" Jesse asked, raising her eyebrow.</p><p>Jace picked at a thread on his sleeve, a rather sour look beginning to come onto his face. Cassie and Petra gave him a concerned glance.</p><p>"Yep- at least the ones who aren't stuck working in the quartz mines. Those poor souls are just waiting for their next shot," Harper said, giving a store that said 'SHOVEL PLANET' a sad sort of look, with workers straggling out of the store.</p><p>"It's a good thing the Old Builders know me expressly- they streamlined my time to get out of the mines," Jace said moodily. "I was allowed to participate two years ago. Blew it three events in."</p><p>Jesse's head whipped around to face him so fast that her neck cracked. Rubbing it, she asked in a splutter, eyes wide, "<em>You were in the quartz mines?</em>"</p><p>Jace stared at the floor, a grouchy look on his face. "Yeah. Usually it takes at least seven years to get another shot, if not a lot more. I got back in after two years. This was the third event, so at least I made it through this time."</p><p>"That's... just <em>horrible</em>," Jesse said, reaching out and squeezing her brother's shoulder, patting his head. He closed his eyes, an expression Jesse couldn't place coming onto his face. "... yeah..."</p><p>Jesse glanced over to see some girl get chased off by the pink-haired gladiator away from the food stands as they kept walking, and winced a bit sympathetically.</p><p>"They didn't make a deal like you did, Jesse," Harper said, making the dark-haired girl turn to look at the former Old Builder, "they're stuck here until they win the games."</p><p>Petra's brow creased, her arms slowly crossing. "And what if they lose...?"</p><p>Cassie was hugging Winslow, Jace giving the calico cat an appraising sort of look. Harper turned around, wincing. "Hadrian sends them to toil in the mines. If they're lucky, they'll get another shot at the games... but like Jace said, it might take quite a while."</p><p>Harper turned to them, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm gonna go confer with Otto. He and I go way back, and, well, he's usually the most reasonable of the three."</p><p>Cassie nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, out of all the Old Builders, I think I liked you two the best. Though I'm pretty sure I liked a different one, too... I'm pretty sure his name was Soren? Out of all these guys he was the youngest. Oh, except for... <em>oh</em>, what was her name...?"</p><p>Jesse choked, and Petra started, both of them looking at Cassie with equally startled looks. They looked as though they were rabbits caught in headlights. "<em>Soren?!</em>" they sputtered in unison.</p><p>Cassie blinked. "Yeah- you guys know another one?"</p><p>"Let me get this straight... Soren, the Architect, wrote like 'Walking with the Endermen' or- or something like that?" Jesse asked, blinking rapidly.</p><p>Cassie nodded, hands behind her back. "Yeah, that guy."</p><p>Petra and Jesse shared another rather startled look. "... why does our life have to be one big box of surprises?"</p><p>"Heck if I know," Petra sighed, rubbing her forehead, before a more thoughtful look started to come onto her face. Her brow creased as Harper turned around and began walking off. "Wait, wait... we still haven't found Lukas or Ivor."</p><p>"I'm thinking," Harper said, wincing again, "that Hadrian must've... sent them through the portal to the mines..."</p><p>"What?!" Jace's tail went ramrod straight, and his eyes started going red, "that's technically against the rules- people aren't supposed to go there until after their whole <em>team </em>loses!"</p><p>Jesse hissed a bit, her face darkening. "Well then, we're just gonna have to get them back out."</p><p>"You said it," Cassie agreed serenely. The calming potion apparently hadn't worn off yet.</p><p>One of the gladiators was blocking the portal, as Harper put a hand on Jesse's shoulder. "See what you guys can do here, I'm gonna try and confer with Otto." She gave the dark-haired girl a small smile. "I've got confidence in you, Jesse. You might just get out of this..." And then she walked off.</p><p>Jesse turned to Cassie and Petra, a more serious look coming over her face. "We've got to try and get our friends out of the mines. I'll go with Jace-"</p><p>"Yeah, I can introduce her to my team and some of the gladiators," Jace said, cheerfully.</p><p>"You guys go and see if you can do anything."</p><p>Cassie shot Jesse a serene thumbs up and meandered off with the other redhead. Jesse put her hands on her hips. "You know, for a former murderer and a Blaze hybrid, those two get on exceptionally well," she murmured.</p><p>Jace seemed unsure whether to laugh or to look stern, so he compromised by scooping up a handful of snow and choking on it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0150"><h2>150. Nell and Em</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I'll introduce you to my friends, first," Jace said, and he took his sister by the hand and started towing the spider hybrid over. "They're actually pretty nice when you get to meet them..."</p><p>The first person they came to was the blonde girl from earlier. Jace waved his hand in a little wave. "Hey, Nell. I think you two've already met. This is my twin sister, Jesse."</p><p>Nell's eyes widened, and she hopped off the block she was sitting on. "Whoa, it's the chick from Spleef! You were like, amazing." And then a slightly apologetic expression came over her face. "And I am <em>so</em> super sorry about your friend and your dad."</p><p>"Oh, right, I keep forgetting- is that..." Jace looked at Jesse, quirking his eyebrow.</p><p>"... oh! No, Ivor's more like my... ah... adopted dad, I guess you could say," Jesse said, feeling her cheeks flush. "He came around a lot after you got... y'know. Taken away."</p><p>Jace's eyes widened, and his mouth formed into a silent 'o'.</p><p>Nell coughed, drawing both of their attention back to the blonde. "I- I get that you're probs upset... especially since you had no idea what was going on..."</p><p>"Oh, speaking of which," Jesse said, straightening up, all six of her arms flickering, "have you seen any of them around lately?"</p><p>Nell winced, rubbing her head. "Nope, sorry. They're like, probably in the mines. And that's on me... <em>such</em> bad karma... bad karma." She put her hands to her temples, before leveling them. "I will <em>never</em> do that to one of your friends again, 'cause... man, I do NOT want to be on either of your bad sides." And she swiveled from Jesse to Jace.</p><p>She then put a hand on her hip and looked at Jesse. "I gotta say you keep playing like that, and you'll be, like, Tim status."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "... Tim who?"</p><p>"Tim!" Nell repeated, which really didn't explain anything.</p><p>Jace cleared his throat, drawing his sister's attention back to him almost possessively. "Yeah, sorry- forgot to mention; Tim is this guy who's pretty much... a legend, here in town? He's the only person so far to have won the games, and got his entire team back home. I mean, that's great for him and all, but... man, would it be awesome to actually meet him..." He cleared his throat and rubbed his head when he saw his sister giving him a look for fanboying. "Ah. Yeah. Sorry. But yeah, he's the guy on the platform picture over there."</p><p>"Yeah!" Nell agreed, "he like, WON! Like you could! People could already be talking!"</p><p>"Yeah, you're pretty awesome, sis," Jace agreed, patting his sister on the shoulder.</p><p>"Er... thanks, I guess," Jesse said, feeling a little overwhelmed. "But... I'm not exactly here to be a 'Tim'... I'm just trying to get home."</p><p>Nell threw her arms into the air, almost smacking Jesse in the face by accident. "But that's exactly what makes you Tim status! Tim didn't wanna be Tim either! He got his whole- team- <em>home!</em>"</p><p>Jesse blinked again, as Nell's hands lowered to rub her head again. "Listen, I still feel <em>super</em> bad about taking out your friend and dad... I owe you, so if you ever need, like, <em>anything,</em> you come and ask, cha?"</p><p>"Thanks, Nell." And Jace put his hand on Jesse's shoulder and started leading her along. "C'mon, I'll take you to meet Em."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Who's Em?"</p><p>Jace steered her around to face... oh, gravel... the burly girl with brown hair in green. "Um... hey," Jesse said timidly.</p><p>Em gave her a dark look. "You're the one who eliminated one of the only decent members on my team- and he's the other one!" Em pointed at Jace.</p><p>Jace flushed. "Uh... thanks?"</p><p>Jesse winced. "I'm really sorry about that... I had no idea what I was getting into. Could we... I dunno... move past that?" she asked, still incredibly timidly.</p><p>Em glared at her. "No! I will eliminate you next round <em>and</em> make you suffer."</p><p>"If you do that, I will bite you," Jace said lazily. But Jesse saw the way his jaw tightened infinitesimally and his eyes flickered red.</p><p>Em's glare softened a little bit. "... fine. I'll just eliminate you next round."</p><p>That really didn't make Jesse feel any better.</p><p>"Next round," Em continued, "if <em>I</em> don't get you... one of the gladiators will."</p><p>Jesse gave her a thumbs up with all six of her arms, giving the much bigger girl a small, nervous smile. "Good luck, Em! I know that the best person will win."</p><p>Em hesitated, and twisted her head to look at the spider hybrid. "... seriously? You know you're looking at the best person..."</p><p>Jesse shrugged mildly. "Well then you'll win."</p><p>Em squinted at the black-haired spider hybrid for a moment, before abruptly continuing, "I feel kinda bad for you. Most of you were snatched against our wills, but you were tricked into coming here willingly. That Old Builder should've told you that these games are impossible."</p><p>Jesse hesitated, before adding, meekly, "Well, Tim won..."</p><p>"Yeah... Tim..." Em said, aimlessly, before standing back up. "Yeah, well- good luck with getting home."</p><p>Jesse blinked as Em walked up, before looking at Jace. "Is she always like that?"</p><p>Jace thought about it. "... sometimes? She's really quite nice when you get to know her... a-anyway, I'll introduce you to some of the gladiators, how about it? Maybe they can help us get Luke and Ivor-"</p><p>"Lukas and Ivor," Jesse corrected automatically.</p><p>"Yeah, them- maybe the gladiators can help get 'em back," Jace said, bracingly, spreading his arms out wide. "How about it, then, sis?"</p><p>Jesse raised an eyebrow, and stood up on her tiptoes. "Well, lead the way then, bro."</p><p>Jace grinned, putting an arm around her, and started leading the girl towards one of the green buildings on the side of the road.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0151"><h2>151. Gladiators and Food</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jace pushed her over to the guy who'd she'd thrown the TNT back at. She gave him a look. "What is it with you and introducing me to people who hate me?"</p><p>"Nonsense, he'll love you."</p><p>"Kinda doubt that, bro..."</p><p>Jace ignored her cynical statement and waved at the gladiator cheerfully, who was reading a book-</p><p>Jesse's innards froze, and she walked forward. "That- that's Lukas's journal!" she exclaimed, eyes wide, slipping out from under her brother's arm and walking over to him.</p><p>The gladiator looked up to see Jesse. "You say something, tiny?" he asked, as Jace hustled over, tail wagging furiously. "'Cause I'm trying to read here."</p><p>"W-where did you get that book you're reading?" Jesse asked, hands shaking slightly as she stared at the gladiator.</p><p>The gladiator looked at the journal, and then back at Jesse. "This? Fished it out of some Respawn's inventory after he-" He made a sort of sound that sounded like he was hawking spit, drawing a finger across his neck, before smiling at Jesse, who was just staring at him with an incredulous look. "It's got tales of adventures, feelings, and other dumb stuff." He gave her another grin, before his eyes narrowed. "Hey, wait a minute- you're the pipsqueak that knocked me out of my tower!"</p><p>"Hi Slab," Jace cut in, "I think you two've already met. This is Jesse, my twin sister. But you can call her Cowgirl."</p><p>Jesse blinked, before turning around and smacking him on the back of the head, feeling her cheeks flush bright red. "Th-th-that was <em>one time!</em>" she exclaimed, trying to keep her voice low as her brother snickered.</p><p>"Yeah!" And Slab continued, although he seemed faintly amused and less annoyed, which may have been Jace's objective (smart bro she had), "and this belonged to that little blonde buddy of yours."</p><p>"Said 'little blonde buddy' would probably like it back, to be honest," Jesse said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "But, I'll, um, I'll leave you to it- so, um, g'bye!"</p><p>"Yeah... I'm SLAB, THE IMMOVEABLE!" And he waved his arms in the air, the book flapping about in the air.</p><p>Jace and Jesse just blinked at him.</p><p>Slab took ahold of the book again, his face coloring a bit. "... and I would just like to read one more chapter..." he added, sheepishly.</p><p>Jesse chuckled and gave him a little wave, grabbing her brother by the arm and gently steering him away. "Cool, bye!" Her nervous smile faded and she gave her twin a flat look. "But seriously, please stop trying to introduce me to people who wanna kill me..."</p><p>Jace sniggered. "No promises, sis."</p><p>He led her to a gladiator standing in front of the portal, the left side of his face looking as though it had gone through a meat grinder. "This is Facemeat," Jace whispered, "he looks... kinda scary, but he's actually not too bad once you get to know him."</p><p>"Good to know," Jesse said meekly, before sheepishly waving at him. "Ah, hello..."</p><p>'Facemeat' glared at Jesse from where he was slouching on the steps. "Don't you 'hello' Facemeat!" And then he stood up, actually towering over Jesse. "Wait a minute! You're the cheater that blew up my friend, Slab! And Facemeat doesn't. Like. Cheaters."</p><p>"Hey, hey, cool it, Facemeat! She's my twin," and Jace gently clapped Jesse on the back, making her look at her brother.</p><p>Facemeat's face seemed to soften. "... I suppose I can see it in the eyes. You have very similar eyes, I guess. Well, don't just stand around and take up all of Facemeat's air!"</p><p>Jesse put her hands behind her back innocently. "Do you know where my friends are?" she asked, meekly.</p><p>"In the Mines... duh. And they're not going anywhere. Not on Facemeat's watch," Facemeat said, crossing his arms, one hand holding a rather large axe that Jesse really didn't want to go near.</p><p>"Please?" and Jesse put all of her hands together pleadingly. "Is there anything I can do to get them out?"</p><p>Facemeat hesitated, his face softening a little more. "Well... now that you mention it... Facemeat was busy slamming mad reps at the gym and missed lunchtime. Ya see? So Facemeat's hungry. Do something about that, and Facemeat'll think about getting your friends out."</p><p>Jesse gave him a nod and walked off with Jace, walking in circles. "Jace, is there a possibility we could go to the food stand?"</p><p>Jace shook his head. "I'm not sure it's a good idea- the food stand only allows people to get food at certain times a day- breakfast, lunchtime, and dinner. And Clutch is... pretty strict about her job. I'm not on that good terms with her- not since she yanked my tail a couple years back."</p><p>Jesse tried to restrain her giggles and failed.</p><p>"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yuk it up, but the point is we're not getting any food from her. So... now we just have to figure out..."</p><p>"Maybe Nell has an idea to get it? She did say I should just go and ask," and before Jace could say anything, Jesse was already trotting back over to the blonde, who hopped off her block upon seeing the spider hybrid. "Yo, Jesse. What can I help you with?"</p><p>"Well... actually, do you have any extra food?" Jesse asked, politely, as Jace came back over, tail wagging. "Jeez, you're fast, sis," he complained.</p><p>Nell seemed to think about it. "Well, um... if I had some wheat, I would totally give you some. Sadly, I DON'T have a secret stash, and if you DIDN'T ask, I WOULDN'T loan you some."</p><p>Jace blinked. "Huh. You learn a new thing every day."</p><p>Nell smirked a bit at her twin, and then winked at Jesse. "Wink." She started walking off, Jesse and Jace trailing after her and walking normally, while Nell tried to 'tiptoe'. They got some weird looks, but Jace just shrugged at most of the competitors and they shrugged it off.</p><p>So in that way, they made it to the other side of the village, and followed Nell behind a building.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0152"><h2>152. They're Back!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Go ahead," Nell said, showing them a patch of three wheat stalks, "that should be enough for your bread."</p><p>Jesse blinked, before swiveling her head to face the blonde. "Hang on- all of it?"</p><p>"Course, brah, it'll grow back," Nell responded casually, "just, uh, leave the seeds, yeah?"</p><p>Jesse blinked again, before nodding. "Oh- sure." And she harvested the wheat, leaving a small pile of seeds. The moment Jesse's lower arms slipped the wheat into her pocket, her upper arms scooped up the seeds, and Jace suddenly jumped into the small piles of dirt, furiously digging and leaving a small arrangement of holes in the ground, hands covered in dirt as he beamed at his sister.</p><p>Jesse grinned and patted him on the head, careful not to mix seeds into his hair. "You really are a wolf-hybrid, aren't you?"</p><p>"Yes, yes I am," Jace said proudly. Jesse laughed and then quickly replanted the seeds, Jace quickly flinging dirt back on top of the ground to cover up the seeds.</p><p>"Nice," Nell said, grinning at the two as they walked back into the square, Jace furiously swatting dirt off of his hands, "looks like that should be enough for some epic loafage."</p><p>Jesse blinked at Nell. "Has anyone ever told you that you speak in a practically different language, because... I have no clue what you just said..." she said, meekly.</p><p>"Oh, cha, dude, all the time. Em does it all the time. Jace is better though. He really understands me," and Nell slung an arm around Jace's shoulder, the brown-haired male blushing a bit. "Ah... hehe, well, not really..."</p><p>Jesse smirked back at her brother, before looking around. "Well, hopefully bread'll be enough to get that Facemeat guy to help me..."</p><p>"Righteous," Nell said, giving Jesse a lazy grin, before it faded into a more thoughtful look. "They don't let us use crafting tables, though..."</p><p>"Then I suppose I'll have to make my own," Jesse hummed thoughtfully, her brother nodding at her with a beaming grin. "C'mon, I saw some wood planks at the Block-Fu Dojo."</p><p>"Does anyone train there?"</p><p>"Not anymore, I don't think..."</p><p>Jesse went over to the now-empty dojo, and, with a quick glance over her shoulder, she began harvesting the wood, wincing at how <em>loud</em> it was. Jace was keeping a lookout so vigorously it looked as though he were doing rigorous neck exercises.</p><p>"Jace, don't do that, you're gonna draw even more attention," Jesse mumbled, out of the corner of her mouth, as she managed to punch through enough for a table. Quickly crafting, wincing again at how incredibly<em> loud</em> this was, she finished a table. "Okay, now let's make some food..."</p><p>And it took her a good two minutes to craft some bread out of the wheat.</p><p>"This reminds me of the time," Jace said mildly, "that Nell started teaching me to do tricks, using a bunch of dog biscuits that she made out of toasted bread, and I learned to do a backwards flip."</p><p>Jesse snickered at her brother, who gave her a teasing pout, and the two of them trotted back over to Facemeat. "Hey, Facemeat- got some bread for you!" And Jesse held it out with a pleasant look on her face.</p><p>Facemeat snatched it out of her hand, making her wince and rub her stinging fingers. "Bread, huh? It's not cake, but Facemeat IS starving..." And he started chomping into the bread with huge bites, Jesse's eyebrows shooting up so that it almost disappeared into her hair. When he was finished, Jesse asked meekly, "Please get my friends?"</p><p>Facemeat gave the spider hybrid girl a somewhat reluctant grin. "Facemeat appreciates the politeness. Hang on." And he turned and disappeared through the portal.</p><p>"See? They love you."</p><p>Jesse gave her twin an amused look as Petra and Cassie came back over. "I wouldn't go that far, Jace..."</p><p>"Hey, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse turned to look at the two redheads, smiling slightly. "Hey, guys. That calming potion still in effect for you, Cassie?"</p><p>Cassie thought about it. "It might be wearing off, but for the moment it's not too bad," she said, still rather mildly.</p><p>Petra snorted. "Even without being angry, she still curses worse than a sailor."</p><p>Winslow sniggered as Jace shook his head, looking faintly amused. "Oh, that's nothing; you should see how much Clutch swears. I think she has a fifty-times an hour quota."</p><p>"GAH!" and a minute later two people fell through the portal, Facemeat stomping through after them. "Here- go away, Respawns."</p><p>Jesse's eyes lit up, and she raced forward and grabbed the blonde ocelot hybrid- who was back in his old Ocelots jacket- and Ivor in a tight hug. "Dad! Lukas!" she practically squealed happily.</p><p>Ivor blinked at Jesse; he was wearing... a rather interesting outfit. Just a white undershirt and some striped blue shorts. "... dad?"</p><p>Jesse blushed as she let go, feeling her face turn as red as her eye. She'd forgotten that she'd never called him that before. "Um... well..."</p><p>Ivor patted her on the back, a small smile on his face. "No, no... I kind of like it."</p><p>The two of them smiled at each other, before the moment was disturbed. "<em>They made a kitty hybrid!"</em></p><p>Lukas yelped, and Jesse suddenly found two blurs racing around the square, before there was a blur of yellow hair flying at her, whipping around her and hiding behind her, claws digging into her armor. "Jesseeee, save meeee," he mewled, crouching behind her and peeking out over her shoulder at Jace, whose eyes were practically sparkling as his hands clasped at his mouth, his tail wagging so fast it was a blur of brownish gray, and bouncing on the balls of his feet.</p><p>There was a momentary, startled silence before Jace added in a whisper, "He's so <em>cute...</em>"</p><p>Petra shook her head in amusement, and summoned two gold sticks, one which she shone a little tiny dot of light onto the ground, and the other she waved tantalizingly at Jace, who spotted it out of the corner of his eye and his head snapped to it attentively. "Yeah, yeah, you want it? <em>Gooo</em> get it!" and she flicked it over her head into the distance, Jace sending up a wave of snow as he bolted after it.</p><p>Lukas was staring at the dot of light, intrigued, and Petra shifted it, Lukas creeping towards it, before Petra shifted it again, and he tried jumping on it. Petra began twitching it everywhere, the ocelot hybrid doing his best to jump on it and failing, Jesse trying very hard not to giggle at it.</p><p>Jesse looked at Ivor, quirking her eyebrow. "... oh yeah, Dad... what are you wearing?" she asked, gesturing faintly at his outfit.</p><p>"It breathes wonderfully," Ivor said defensively.</p><p>This made Jesse excuse herself to go laugh in a corner.</p><p>"OH FREAKING HELL I'M GONNA MURDER THOSE OLD BUILDERS!"</p><p>"Cassie, no, help me play with Lukas and Jace please... they need to be distracted right now..."</p><p>This just made Jesse laugh even harder.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0153"><h2>153. Peace and Calm (Not in the Underground)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Okay," Jesse said, after Jace had stopped trying to chase Lukas and stopped trying to play fetch with Blaze Rods, and after Lukas had stopped trying to catch the light, and after Cassie had calmed down from wanting to immediately murder someone (and by someone I mean the Old Builders), and after Jesse had recovered from her laughing fit- when, in short, everything had calmed down a bit, the six of them reconvened at the podium, sitting on the steps.</p><p>Lukas shivered, tail twitching a bit. Jace glanced at it but didn't say anything. "It's pretty bad in there, Jesse. They don't even do anything to keep the pigmen away so they just... stare at you while you mine."</p><p>Jesse huffed a bit, rubbing her head. "Well, Petra and I just have to compete in the games- if we win, we're home free..."</p><p>"And let me guess, if we lose we have to go back to the mines?" Lukas asked, raising his eyebrow.</p><p>Jesse shrugged sheepishly. "<em>Kinda...?</em>" she said, tentatively, before, trying to stay positive, "But! At least we know that while they may be... uh, difficult, they're not impossible- this guy Tim did it."</p><p>Lukas perked up a bit. "That's true. He's all they talk about in the mines. Guess he won the games a long time ago and got all of his team home. They say that he was 'seven feet tall' and that he 'carried his whole team across the finish line'..."</p><p>"Tim seems cool," Petra said mildly, flicking sparks into the snow aimlessly and watching them melt. "Though it <em>is</em> kinda fishy..."</p><p>Jesse perked up even more, clapping all of her hands together cheerfully. "Well, you're out of the mines now- according to Harper, until our entire team is eliminated, you're allowed to stay here in the village."</p><p>"That's right-"</p><p>All six of them jumped- Ivor suddenly found himself with an ocelot and spider hybrid balancing precariously on his shoulders, Lukas's fur standing up on end, Petra was holding a handful of fire and in a very defensive position, Jace's tail was ramrod straight and he was hiding behind Cassie, and Cassie's axe was out defensively, Winslow hissing with his fur on end.</p><p>"Ahaha, sorry," Harper said sheepishly. "Didn't mean to startle you there."</p><p>Lukas and Jesse fell off of Ivor's shoulders, Petra shook out her fire, Jace relaxed, and Cassie slowly put her axe away, although it seemed to take her a pretty big effort.</p><p>"Your friends weren't supposed to go to the mines yet," Otto finished, also looking rather sheepish, "I am <em>sincerely</em> sorry about that."</p><p>The hybrids, Ivor, and Cassie all gave him a wary look.</p><p>Harper gestured at him, calmly. "Jesse, this is Otto. My old friend. Like I said, he may be able to help."</p><p>Jesse glanced at him warily, all of her arms crossing. "So... you're the one who's supposed to help us?" she asked, slowly, trying to keep any disbelief out of her voice- for politeness' sake.</p><p>"Well, I'll enforce the rules, at any rate. If that helps you then..." Otto shrugged a bit, "can't be games without rules. Harper's been filling me in about you. From the stories she's told... I'm impressed. You might actually make it to the top."</p><p>Jesse blinked at that. "Oh... really? Thank you," she said, still rather warily.</p><p>"In fact," Otto continued, smiling, "you're the most exciting thing to come to this place in a LONG time. A real wild card!"</p><p>"That a good thing or a bad thing?" Lukas asked warily, tail flicking in agitation, half behind Jesse in case Otto suddenly went and shoved him back through the portal.</p><p>Otto shrugged. "Yeah, I think you might be a real Tim in the making. Yep, a <em>real</em> Tim."</p><p>"Great," Jesse said, rocking onto the balls of her feet, then back down, "as long as I get to go home."</p><p>"That is the point," Otto agreed, before adding, in a more serious vein, "But you have to win, first. And my job is make sure everybody- even Hadrian- plays by the rules. I'm rootin' for ya, kid- just don't disappoint me."</p><p>"Can we trust him, Harper?" Petra asked the former Old Builder, who shrugged. "Who knows? Otto's been doing this forever. At least he seemed interested."</p><p>"That is not very comforting," Lukas said, making a slight face.</p><p>Jesse suddenly blinked. "Oh! Right, I actually forgot. Go me. Lukas, Ivor, this is Jace... my twin brother."</p><p>Lukas let out a slight whine. "Aw, the dog hybrid's your twin?" he said, shrinking behind Jesse as if Jace was going to jump him again.</p><p>"Hey! I am not a dog. I am a wolf," Jace said, acting playfully offended.</p><p>Ivor looked between the two of them, dark blue eyes softening. "Yes, I can see it... your eyes are <em>very</em> similar. Almost the same, really. Except, well, Jesse has the one red eye... but I digress."</p><p>Jace edged around so he was standing next to Lukas, holding out his hand, bouncing slightly in place. "Nice ta meetcha! Are you Jesse's boyfriend?"</p><p>Lukas choked, and he hacked for a moment before a small ball of yellow fur shot out of his throat and landed on the ground, making Jesse wince and pat Lukas on the back. "Um, no, Jace. We're not dating."</p><p>"Oh." Then- "Is he Petra's boyfriend, then?"</p><p>Petra spit. Literally, a ball of fire blasted out from her mouth and hit the snow, melting a little circle around it.</p><p>Jesse was trying hard not to giggle. "Uhh... no. None of us have any romantic relationship between ourselves whatsoever."</p><p>"Well, except Ivor, he has a crush on-"</p><p>Ivor's hand slapped over Cassie's mouth as he laughed nervously. "Haha, yes, shut up!"</p><p>Everyone smothered giggles as Cassie pushed his hand off, a faintly annoyed look on her face, though she was mostly just smirking at the older male, who had a heavy red blush on his face. "Very subtle, Dad," Jesse joked, in stitches.</p><p>Ivor rolled his eyes at her, although he looked faintly pleased. "Oh... shut up."</p><p>"Anyway," Harper said, her lips twitching as everyone else dissolved into titters and Ivor shook his head with an amused smile at his adopted 'daughter', "the dorms are over there... you've got a pretty big day tomorrow, Jesse."</p><p>"Jesse, can you pet me?" Lukas asked, cracking his neck and wincing a bit as he did so, "Notch knows I need it."</p><p>"Hey, wait, no, Jesse said she'd pet me if I got Petra- and I did!"</p><p>Lukas scowled playfully at Jace. "Well too bad; she's been petting me longer."</p><p>"But I'm her brother!"</p><p>"Both of you calm down... I'll just pet you both," Jesse intervened, tapping them both on the nose- they'd gotten so close to one another that if Petra had pushed them, they would've kissed.</p><p>"... fine," the two boys huffed somewhat playfully, and then they all started walking towards the dorms.</p><p>"In the morning, we're winning, and getting us all out of here," Jesse said, crossing her heart and putting a hand over her eye as they kept walking.</p><p>"I wonder what the next event is," Petra mused.</p><p>"Hopefully nothing too deadly," Ivor said, before he was cut off by a snort. Lukas hastily covered his mouth, eyes sparkling with amusement. "I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously looking like that."</p><p>The teenagers all dissolved into another giggling fit as Ivor said, sounding affronted, "It breathes... WONDERFULLY!"</p><p>And so it was with a roll of her eyes Harper led them all into the dormitories.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0154"><h2>154. Nocturnal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse's eyes opened.</p><p>It was pretty late, from what she could see in the dark, from the jumble of pillows and blankets and cushions that she and the others had decided to accumulate around them on the floor. Jesse and Jace were most used to sleeping like this.</p><p>It took quite a bit of subtle shifting, which mostly involved inching Lukas's fluffy blonde head off of her stomach and Jace's body off her legs, but she finally managed to wiggle out from underneath them, a faint glow in the room from where Petra was ensnared at the bottom of the pile. Cassie was lying at the edge of the blankets, not quite isolating herself from the pile but not quite with the others. Ivor was a little more inside, wrapped up in a blanket and snoozing from where he was wrapped up.</p><p>Jesse quietly stepped over them and went to sat on one of the beds, which had no sheets, no blankets, and no pillows- just the mattress. It creaked slightly as she sat down, watching all of her friends with a strange, soft look on her face that she really didn't know why it was on her face.</p><p>She nearly jumped and fell off the bed when Jace's head lifted up off the pillows, his eyes clear and green and not sleepy in the least. "Jesse?"</p><p>"You're still awake?" Jesse whispered back, after her heart stopped feeling as if it'd run a marathon or something.</p><p>"Well, yeah, wolves are nocturnal, remember?" her brother asked, nonchalantly.</p><p>Jesse stared, before dropping her head into her hands, staying there for a minute. "I can't believe I actually forgot that..." she mumbled.</p><p>Jace got up, being careful not to jostle anybody too much, and perched on the bed next to her, their shoulders touching. "Spiders are nocturnal, too, to an extent, so I'm not surprised that you're awake. Something on your mind?"</p><p>Jesse spread her palms out helplessly. "Yes... no... oh, I don't know."</p><p>"And there are three answers to choose from. Never let it be said that you are not thorough," her brother teased, making Jesse snort softly and smack his shoulder. "Gee, thanks, bro."</p><p>"Not a problem."</p><p>The two of them watched the pile of hybrids and people sleeping on the floor, all entangled in the blankets. "I really am glad I got to see you again," Jace said, watching the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor as if it were an interesting television show. "I missed you a lot."</p><p>Jesse reached out and squeezed her brother's shoulder, the wolf hybrid giving her a grateful little smile. "I missed you too, Jace."</p><p>The wolf hybrid almost purred softly as Jesse ran her fingers through his hair. She'd managed to find a rival for Lukas's hair in terms of fluffiness and softness- her own twin brother.</p><p>Jesse sat back, lower arms supporting her, upper arms crossing thoughtfully. "... what are the Old Builders like?" she asked, in a soft voice, so as to not wake anybody up.</p><p>Jace leaned forward, hand leaning on his cheek thoughtfully. "Hmmmnnn... well, Hadrian actually used to be pretty nice, when he was younger. Now he's kind of a jerk," which made Jesse stifle her giggles. "He used to give me dog treats. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, since, you know, I actually like them. Mevia was pretty nice too. They were actually... pretty nice, until the games got to their heads and... well... things started getting messed up. Harper left about seven years back or so- can't quite remember..."</p><p>Jace sat there thoughtfully, trying to recall, before adding, "Otto was... well, he was nice. I like him. He's pretty trustworthy, although sometimes he doesn't seem like he's willing to help if it bores him."</p><p>Jesse watched her brother's mouth twist as he tried to think. "Hmm... that's really all I can remember about those guys. Mevia's a lot more violent now." And he made a face. "And Hadrian's... well, he's Hadrian, I guess," he added at last.</p><p>"I see," and Jesse watched Petra glow in the darkness before glancing at her brother. "Have you ever been curious about me?"</p><p>Jace smiled, a mischievous one that glowed on his face. "Ohh... a <em>few...</em>"</p><p>And suddenly he was leaning towards her so much that Jesse nearly fell off the bed to keep him in her eyesight without going cross-eyed, tail wagging, eyes sparkling. "Who do you like~?" he asked, in a soft, sing-songy voice.</p><p>Jesse blinked, before feeling a faint pink blush come over her cheeks. Good thing it was dark. "Um... no one, Jace. I told you, I don't like anyone-"</p><p>"What about the kitty hybrid?"</p><p>Jesse blinked at him again, before covering her mouth to hide the grin that was playing on her mouth. "Ah, you mean Lukas? Funny. No, I don't 'like' like him," she whispered back.</p><p>"Can I keep the Blaze and the kitty then?"</p><p>Jesse actually had to bite her thumb to keep from bursting out laughing. She felt very lucky that she hadn't grown fangs when she did so. "Ah... no, they're not pets. But can you imagine," her silent giggles started to intensify, "Petra wearing a pink bow or something and being on a leash?"</p><p>"What if Lukas had a pink bow?"</p><p>The two of them started to giggle, Jesse covering her face and burying it in a pillow to keep from bursting into laughter at the thought of Lukas's face if he were to wear a pink bow on his head, Jace's joy getting out of his system by his tail wagging so much it looked as though it might fall off.</p><p>"Okay, any other questions?" Jesse asked, after she was no longer in danger of laughing aloud.</p><p>Jace thought about it. "... yeah, why does the angry lady curse so much?"</p><p>Jesse fell off the bed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0155"><h2>155. The "Locker Room"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Hellloooo competitors, and welcome to the next day of the Games!" Hadrian's voice boomed out over the speakers, as Jesse flicked through a book. Petra was flicking sparks at the floor, which fizzled out. "And it's gonna be a hot one!"</p><p>"Woo! Yes it is, Hadrian!" Mevia said, overly cheerfully. "And how're our teams looking, Otto?"</p><p>"Whatcha reading, Jesse?" Petra asked, flicking more sparks off as Otto started going on about the teams.</p><p>Jesse looked up from her book. "It's the journal from the Bureau of Amalgamology- actually, after the Order went to go fight the dragon, Ivor swiped the journal and kinda kept it. The book sort of... um, devolved into a diary, of sorts. And he wasn't very good at keeping it updated. There'd be like, year long breaks before it picked back up."</p><p>"Really? What was the latest entry?"</p><p>Jesse flipped through several pages. "It was actually the day of Endercon."</p><p>Petra's eyes widened, and she leaned over to have a look. "Seriously?" And yep- there was the date of that Endercon, so very long ago.</p><p>"Yeah... man, Endercon feels like centuries ago," Jesse sighed, leaning back a little, putting the red journal back in her pocket.</p><p>"Forget centuries, I feel as though three millenia and a week have passed since then," Petra said, hovering into the air, doing a flip, and flitting into a sitting position with a little sigh.</p><p>Jesse nodded in agreement, sitting back.</p><p>"And, about our plucky newcomers-" Otto was speaking, making the two girls look up.</p><p>"Otto, shut up. We don't need to hear about them," Hadrian cut in, making Jesse raise an eyebrow at that, "well, for everyone else, don't forget to be like Tim out there!"</p><p>"Wonder how this is gonna go," Petra said, drily.</p><p>"Yeah, it's gonna be a good one," Jesse said enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of her feet, "I can feel it."</p><p>Petra nodded, gold eyes gleaming as she ceased flicking sparks everywhere. "All right, I can get behind that kind of optimism. No idea what this event is, but I'm sure we'll kick butt."</p><p>Jesse shrugged as Hadrian spoke again, "Alright competitors, the next event is almost upon us- time to head to the starting line!"</p><p>"Starting line... it's gonna be a race," Jesse said, stretching a bit, all six of her arms cracking a bit. Petra perked up noticeably, eyes actually glowing. No, they were <em>literally</em> glowing. "A race! We've totally got this!"</p><p>"'Got this', huh?"</p><p>Every team in the room jumped, as Hadrian threw his arms into the air, "Boom! Surprise Locker Room Visit, ha! How we doing, everybody," and he started strolling across the floor towards Jesse and Petra.</p><p>"It's Hadrian!" one of the yellow team members whispered, loudly.</p><p>Hadrian came to a stop in front of Jesse and Petra. "And here are the newcomers that everyone's been talking about since their, heh, explosive debut in Spleef. Tell me, champ," and he pivoted to the dark-haired spider hybrid, "what's on your mind as you approach the next challenge?"</p><p>"I'm just looking forward to a <em>fair</em> contest where the best person wins," Jesse said, mildly, although she DID put emphasis on 'fair'.</p><p>"Well, listen to this little pillar of nobility, huh?" Hadrian asked, in a rather sports-announcer voice, "don't you worry, that's what these games are all about! Just ask Tim."</p><p>And he looked around, making the other teams in the room pretend to look away rather quickly (Nell literally jumped behind Em), although Jace just waved cheerfully.</p><p>"I admire your confidence, Jesse," Hadrian said, in a lower, warning tone, "but I must ask, what makes you think you can win when so many others have failed, huh?"</p><p>Jesse thought about that for a second. "... I'm actually wondering where you got the 'confidence' part from. I'm sweating bullets and I feel like I swallowed the entire bug exhibit at the zoo."</p><p>Petra made a sound that sounded like a mixture of a choke, a snort, and a sneeze.</p><p>Hadrian gave Jesse an appraising sort of look. "... very amusing, Jesse."</p><p>Jesse swept a deep bow, making dramatic waving motions with her hand. "Thank you, thank you," she said dramatically, making Petra snicker.</p><p>Hadrian shot Jesse a glare, before turning around and beginning to walk off. "What a lovely day for a game." And then he let out a laugh that pretty much just screamed 'EVIL VILLAIN LEAVING THE ROOM'.</p><p>Jace bounded up to Jesse, almost knocking the girl over. "Jesseeeeee!" he said, happily, making Jesse laugh a bit as Em and Nell came over as well.</p><p>"Jesse!" and Jesse looked over the bundle of green and brown that was currently threatening to knock her flat on her back to see Em, "Good luck out there. I mean, I'm sure you'll be great, but everyone could use a little dose of luck, right?"</p><p>Jesse put all her hands behind her and gave her a little smile. "Thanks, Em. Good luck to you too."</p><p>"Of course," and Em rolled her eyes a bit, before continuing, "I saw what you could do in Spleef. Then you made that deal with Hadrian, and I thought... An enemy of <em>my</em> enemy is <em>my</em> friend."</p><p>Nell shot Em a grin, and Jace straightened up and dusted himself off, giving Jesse a cheerful smile.</p><p>"Em might be up to something..." Petra whispered into Jesse's ear, looking wary.</p><p>"So yeah," Em said, casually, "how 'bout we work together on this?"</p><p>Jesse blinked a bit, as Em continued, casually, "I could use an ally... and you could use my help."</p><p>"How would we do that?" Jesse mused, brow crinkling as she looked at the brown-haired girl.</p><p>"A bigger group has a better chance of getting past the gladiators," Em said, in the voice of someone patiently describing something to a three-year old. "Trust me."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0156"><h2>156. Lava Race</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse slowly blinked at Em, who got closer and lowered her voice into a whisper. "In the middle of the race is a part with tons of gladiators... that's when we should all team up. Defeat them, then race to the finish... Well what do you say?" and the former gladiator leaned away again with a casual grin on her face.</p><p>Jesse looked at Petra, who shrugged indifferently. Then she glanced at Jace, who was nodding so hard and so fast Jesse worried he was going to nod his head off. Then at Nell, who gave the black-haired spider hybrid a thumbs up and a lazy grin. Then back at Em.</p><p>"Okay."</p><p>"Good!" And the two of them high-fived, Nell grinning and Jace bouncing up and down cheerfully. "I won't let you down."</p><p>"Competitors to the starting line!" Hadrian announced, his voice once again tinny from the speakers, and Em gave Jesse a sort of grin. "See you at Gladiator Junction."</p><p>Petra tapped her chin as the green team moved away to the starting line area. "Gladiator Junction? ... sounds awesome. At least we won't have to fight her AND the gladiators." And she grinned at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse gave the Blaze hybrid a little smile. "True. C'mon, let's go."</p><p>Petra pumped her fist in the air, eyes glowing as she got all fired up. "I'm ready for this! Those gladiators are going DOWN! Hint, it's gonna involve a lot of punching... and kicking... and fireballs..."</p><p>Jesse stifled a giggle and said, smirking at her friend, "Let's play it safe- okay? Hadrian might have something else planned."</p><p>Petra nodded, gold eyes glinting in the dim light, "You got it, Jess- I don't trust him as far as I can throw him... which is pretty far for the record."</p><p>Jesse snorted. "I'm quite tempted to ask you to show me."</p><p>Petra snorted as well as they entered the starting line room, getting into place next to the yellow and the green team. Jesse dropped to all eights, all of her legs tensing, and Petra just got into a running position.</p><p>"Pssst, Jesse," and Jesse looked over to see Nell and Jace grinning at her, Jace's tail wagging.</p><p>"I just wanted to say it's like an honor to be working together," Nell whispered, "and I'm glad that Em, like, totally suggested that."</p><p>"Good luck, sis!" and Jace gave her a thumbs up before getting onto all fours, his tail wagging even more as he got into position. Jesse lifted up her lower arm and gave him one back, making him beam at her.</p><p>"I knew that you were cool," Nell continued, sending the dark-haired girl a grin, "from the moment we met."</p><p>Mevia's voice called out over the speakers, making Jesse only grin back in return and face back to the hallway they were about to charge into.</p><p>"Competitors, on your mark!"</p><p>Jesse's muscles tensed.</p><p>"Get set!" Otto called over the speakers.</p><p>Petra gave Jesse a quick grin. Jesse returned it.</p><p>"GO!"</p><p>The two of them shot off like rockets, bolting into the hallway. Jesse's eight limbs scrambled and propelled her along the floor at a rapid clip, Petra just running normally and occasionally gliding at acute angles.</p><p>Lava suddenly started pouring from the ceiling. "Look out!" Petra called to Jesse.</p><p>Jesse evaluated the situation as fast as she'd ever done it, and bolted forward again, so fast that she shot between the small space between the floor and the lava and cleared it just in time. Petra just charged through, her shoulders steaming as liquid fire dripped onto the stone, sizzling.</p><p>Jesse stuck her tongue out at Petra. "Lucky!" she complained.</p><p>Petra smirked and kept running, as Jesse slipped through a small hole in the next curtain of lava, and then cut around the next few sharply. Petra didn't alter her course; but just kept on pounding.</p><p>Jesse leaped over a puddle of pooling lava, clearing it, and then literally sprang through a hole in the next one, yanking her limbs so that they were pulled tight to the sides of her body, before catching herself again (and almost getting a faceful of stone in the process) before continuing to scuttle across the floor at high speeds.</p><p>Jesse's mouth fell open as she stared at the next part of the race- lava swelled up, leaving only small patches of stone for the contestants to jump from.</p><p>"NOPE!" she yelped, and slingshotted a web at the ceiling. The moment it stuck, she retracted, doing a flip in midair, landing on the ceiling, and racing across that part before swinging back down, landing on all eights and continuing her frantic race across the floor.</p><p>Petra stepped out of the lava, shaking more of it off her armor, and kept racing after Jesse. "This is supposed to be hard?" Petra called, nonchalantly, in a hard run but grinning at the spider hybrid.</p><p>Jesse grinned nervously at Petra. "Easy for you to say; you can literally just take a little stroll through the lava and it'll just heat you up!"</p><p>"Can't deny that."</p><p>The sound of a bowstring disengaging hit Jesse's ears, making the giggle in her throat die, and Jesse instinctively yelled out, "<em>Dodge!</em>"</p><p>Petra immediately jumped into the air, Blaze Rods forming in midair as she soared over the arrow, did a perfect parkour roll, and jolted to her feet running, giving Jesse a thumbs up. "Thanks!"</p><p>"Outta the way, chumps!" the yellow team leader yelled, raising the bow again.</p><p>"Oh no, none of that!" Jesse snapped, flicking her wrist. A web flew out of her hand and slammed into the bow, knocking it off target and sending the arrow spiraling randomly away.</p><p>Jesse then proceeded to cut sharply to her left, literally turning so sharply that her feet skidded on the floor, and plowed into one, making him trip forward- Jesse dodged sideways- he landed on his face- he puffed into smoke.</p><p>Jesse winced. "<em>Whoops...</em>"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0157"><h2>157. Betrayal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Another curtain of lava poured down, which Jesse kept scuttling under and Petra just jogged right through. Shaking some lava droplets out of her hair, she flicked her hand almost contemptuously. A firebolt shot from her hand, hit another one of the yellow members, and made him explode into smoke.</p><p>Jesse and Petra charged after the yellow players, who leapt into the raised area and disappeared from sight. Tensing her muscles, Jesse sent herself soaring into the air, and dropped-</p><p>Into water, and she flailed her arms before popping back to the surface, spitting out the mouthful of water she'd just got as Petra steamed, sending up such thick clouds of steam and water vapor that Jesse couldn't see three inches in front of her face-</p><p>Jesse felt the water suddenly drop, and so did she, as the steam cleared and she slammed into yet another body of water. Good thing she was already soaked, right?</p><p>Clambering out of the side of the moat and pulling out her sword, as Petra, still steaming, crawled out of the water, her own sword steaming as she withdrew it. "Okay," Jesse said shakily, "sounds like this is Gladiator Junction... but where are the gladiators?"</p><p>A loud boom, and Jesse looked to her left- just in time for her brother to slam into her and knock her back several feet.</p><p>"Well that answers that question," Jesse said flatly, from where she was under the wolf hybrid, his tail tucked between his legs as he eked out several very blurred apologies. He helped her to her feet, and then pointed. "Just- look!"</p><p>Jesse looked. Her mouth fell open at the sight of all the gladiators. Besides Clutch, there was Facemeat, Slab... and... someone else that Jesse hadn't seen before... and the other gladiators Jesse didn't know.</p><p>"Look out! Arrow!" Petra barked.</p><p>Jesse automatically flicked her hand, a strand of sticky string shooting from it and catching the arrow, setting part of the web on fire. Crap.</p><p>"Gah!" And Jesse whirled around, sending the arrow and the string flying into a waterfall, a small hiss as it was extinguished. Turning back around, her mouth fell open as she saw Clutch literally hit someone from the purple team like they were a baseball. And some people were running around on fire.</p><p>"Uhm..."</p><p>Em skidded in front of the two gaping girls and the very deadpan Jace. Obviously he'd done this before. "Jesse! Sup. You ready for the fun part?"</p><p>"Sure hope so..." Jesse grimaced a bit.</p><p>"Come on then!"</p><p>Em slammed a purple team member out of the way, as Nell bolted ahead for the gate- "She's not good at fighting," Em explained- and Jace followed, a little behind the three of them as Em took the lead.</p><p>"Glad she's with us, Jesse," Petra said, giving Jesse a grin, as they came up to Clutch and Slab.</p><p>Slab pointed his sword at Jesse, a grin coming over his face. "You're mine! I've been dreaming about this since Spleef."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "So... yesterday, then."</p><p>"You sure, Slab?" Petra taunted, "You seem kinda outnumbered!"</p><p>"Just means more fun for me," Slab said casually.</p><p>"We'll see about that," Jesse said, hand tightening on the sword in her hand, "right, Jace? Em?" There was a small cheer from Jace, but nothing from Em. Jesse glanced to her left to see nothing. "... Em?"</p><p>Something slammed into her back, knocking her forward, and there was a cackle from Em. "BOOM." And then she ran past.</p><p>There was a growl, and her red-eyed twin glared after Em. "That little- that little potato!"</p><p>Jesse blinked at her brother. "What's wrong with potatoes? I <em>like</em> potatoes."</p><p>"First thing I thought of and sis <em>move</em>!"</p><p>Jesse rolled to her right violently, flipping so that she was back on all eights, and then a blur of gold flew threw the air and slammed into Slab, knocking the gladiator back. Petra stood in front of her friend, sword glowing with flames. "Jesse! I've got your back, go!" Petra shouted.</p><p>Jesse moved forward as Petra blocked Slab's blade, but then his shield flew out of nowhere and knocked Petra over, and then Clutch swung her axe down at Petra.</p><p>"<em>No!</em>" Jesse yelled, but it was a fraction of a second too late as the heavy axe smashed into Petra.</p><p>For a second, all Jesse could hear was a sort of roaring in her ears as she stared at Petra. Petra's face was one of surprise, gold eyes slightly widened, but dulling to dull gray. And then she disappeared into smoke.</p><p>Jesse slowly turned to face Slab, both eyes glowing brilliant red. Then she glanced at her brother. His growling was more intense now, eyes also glowing blood red. Both of them shared a look.</p><p>And then they both charged.</p><p>Jace used his sword with a harsh downwards slash, slamming into Slab's shield and , before flailing his arm at Slab's face. Slab jerked back, but not in time to avoid the three claw marks that appeared on his face. Jesse slammed into his legs, making him trip, before Jace managed to grab Slab's arm, claws digging into skin, Jesse flipped onto her back and lashed out with her legs, and together the two of them managed to sort of judo-flip Slab onto the ground, the ground shaking slightly.</p><p>"Jesse, we have to get to the finish line!" Jace shouted, grabbing his sister by the arm, and if she hadn't been wearing armor she would've yelped as his claws dug into her. As it was, she still felt it as though someone were grabbing her arm far too tightly. "If we don't, you and your friends will have to go to the mines!"</p><p>Jesse gave Slab one last glare as the stared openmouthed at them, before turning back to her brother, right eye turning back to cool green but her red eye still blazing angrily and Jace's eyes still a shade of bright red. "Fine."</p><p>And the two of them turned and ran.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0158"><h2>158. I Get It</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rushing into the next room, Jace and Jesse found themselves staring up at a huge wall of vines... over a pool of lava. Probably should mention the pool of lava.</p><p>Jace took a running start and grabbed ahold of the vines, swinging crazily, as Em caught up to and passed Nell, who spent a couple seconds trying to get a foot or handhold each time she moved up. Glancing back, his mouth fell open as his sister jumped next to him and then started creeping up the wall, all eight limbs working.</p><p>"He-y," Nell cheered as Jesse came up right beneath her, Jace racing after them as the vines swung crazily and nearly threw him off- wolves equal not very good at climbing- "Jesse! Way to catch up, dude! Very nice!"</p><p>"You just can't take a hint, can you!?" Em snapped, and Nell turned- Em slammed her foot into Nell's arm- Nell fell off-</p><p>Jesse let out a yell of shock, and immediately her lower arms grabbed ahold of the vines as her upper arms released the wall and twisted- she caught Nell by the arm as Jace came up beneath them, his tail slightly bushy and mumbling something about heights.</p><p>"Oh come on!"</p><p>Jesse looked back up as Em used a pickaxe to slash through a block, making water pour out from the hole she made- it slammed into Jesse, who in turn fell into Jace and knocked him off the wall-</p><p>"No no no no!" Jesse yelled immediately, as gravity seemed to take a vacation, and slingshotting a web at a hole in the side of the wall, catching ahold of Jace with her lower arm, all three of them flew into the hole, Jesse barely managing to land on her feet as the other two slammed into stone, on their backs, with a little groan of pain.</p><p>Jesse was panting, so hard that it was actually making her slightly lightheaded.</p><p>It didn't help when Nell grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her so hard that she almost conked heads with the blonde. "DUDE! That was SO Tim! Righteous!"</p><p>Jesse looked at her brother for help, as his tail bushed out. He gave her a sheepish grin and then a laugh. "Ah... sorry, sis, that <em>was</em> pretty cool. Now, um... how do we get out of here?"</p><p>"The water, dude!" and Nell patted Jace on the head, making him look slightly pleased, "we can ride that wave right back up to the top- follow me!" and she hopped into the water.</p><p>"I prefer climbing..." Jesse walked to a spot where there was no water and then went back to climbing on the wall, catching up with Nell in no time as Jace followed, paddling after Nell rapidly and sending water flying everywhere.</p><p>"Do you <em>like</em> water?" Jesse asked, trying not to giggle as she got splashed a bit.</p><p>Jace beamed. "Yep!"</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but smile back, as she reached the top where Nell was panting, hands on her knees. Jace followed a second later, and both girls put up their hands defensively as the soaking-wet wolf hybrid shook all the water off and managed to get a fair amount on the two girls. "Whoa," Nell eked out, "man, intense enough for ya? Thanks for saving me."</p><p>"Don't mention it," Jesse agreed, and then ran up the steps as fast as possible.</p><p>She became aware of Hadrian's voice speaking as she raced up the steps on all eights. "I trust you made good on our deal?" It was softer, but Jesse could hear it- she had pretty damn good hearing.</p><p>"I did." Em.</p><p>"If that's the case, then why hasn't Jesse respawned yet?"</p><p>Reaching the top of the staircase, she slowed her pace, her entire body whipping into an upright position as she walked purposefully forward. Jace came up a second later, on all fours, and then straightened, shivering a bit in the icy night air, and then Nell.</p><p>Em looked startled, but Hadrian just looked angry.</p><p>"Jesse," Em said, sounding startled.</p><p>"And there appears to be a confrontation on the field," Mevia said dramatically, "Jesse looks very heated-"</p><p>Jesse glanced at the blue haired woman and flicked her hand, a small web shooting out of her hand and slapping over the Old Builder's mouth. "Yes, yes, thank you, please be quiet, I can't think straight with all your narrating," she said, not even bothering to hide the irritation in her voice. And then she turned back to Em.</p><p>Em looked at Jesse awkwardly, as Jesse frowned at the tall, burly girl, but didn't say anything.</p><p>It wasn't like she had anything to say.</p><p>Jace was audibly growling, ears flattened on his head, eyes glowing in the dimness, and Jesse had the feeling that the only thing keeping him from lashing out at Em was that he was teammates- almost friends, really- with the former gladiator.</p><p>"So you sacrificed winning the race to save someone else," Hadrian said lightly, making Jesse turn to look at him, her upper arms crossed and her lower arms on her hips, "Good to know."</p><p>"And you actively lied to me by saying that this was a fair contest when in reality you made a deal with Em to kill me," Jesse said in the same tone, "good to know."</p><p>Hadrian's scowl grew deeper, if possible, and he whipped to Em. "And YOU. <em>You</em> were supposed to <em>eliminate</em> Jesse. Our deal's <em>off.</em>"</p><p>"No!" Em cried out, head snapping back up as Jesse said, softly, "Deal...?"</p><p>"No, please!" Em begged, but to no avail, as Hadrian built a bridge away and the two other Old Builders glanced back. Mevia's expression was a smirk, and Otto's was... well, he looked kind of sorry.</p><p>Em's shoulders drooped, and it was <em>so</em> very hard to stay angry at someone who looked so very upset. "... you probably think I'm scum or whatever," Em said, in an almost toneless voice, "but you know what? I don't even care."</p><p>She turned to Jesse, her face almost rather blank. "You have <em>your</em> deal, Jesse, if you win you and your friends will just leave us anyway. My shot at going home just went up in smoke, so feel free to judge all you want. Hard to hurt me anymore than Hadrian did just now."</p><p>Jesse just arched her eyebrow. "Cassie Rose has <em>murdered</em> people because she wanted to get back home so badly," she said, sternly, voice softening a second later, "if I've forgiven her, I'm going to forgive you. I get it, Em. I may have even done something similar in your position."</p><p>Em hesitated, as Jace slowly stopped growling and looked a bit calmer, "Well... I'm glad that you get it wasn't personal, at any rate. I... I gotta go." And she walked off, going off in the direction Nell had gone as Jesse gave the burly girl a sad sort of look.</p><p>"I feel really bad for her," Jace said softly, "and... I mean, I'm still pissed at her for trying to kill you. But... she's not a bad person. I just feel kind of sorry for her now."</p><p>Jesse sighed, reaching out and running her hand through her twin's hair. "You're not the only one."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0159"><h2>159. The Office (Haha)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Okay," Petra huffed, stomping over, eyes glowing angrily, "respawning is the WORST."</p><p>Jesse giggled at that, and Petra crossed her arms. She was back in her old outfit, the glove covering up her Blaze Rod arm, although you could still tell she was annoyed- the snowflakes drifting from the sky melted the moment it got within six inches of her. Jesse looked at the outfit, the blue-and-black ensemble Petra had used to wear all the time.</p><p>Ah... nostalgia.</p><p>"Join the club," Jace said sagely, patting the redhead on the shoulder. Petra's scowl softened into a look of faint amusement, as a familiar voice said, sharply, "You!"</p><p>Jesse looked over to see Slab stomping through the snow, looking annoyed. "Hadrian wants you."</p><p>Petra arched her eyebrow. "Hadrian?" she wondered, Jace looking politely puzzled.</p><p>"Why does he want to see me?" Jesse asked, mildly.</p><p>Slab gave her a disgruntled look. "You made him <em>reeeaal </em>mad. Come on. I don't have all day." And he started stomping away.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Okay. If they wanna see me, let's go."</p><p>Slab turned back, blinking at the girl. "Uh... really? Well. That was unexpected." And it might've been Jesse's imagination, but he looked a bit more mild than before.</p><p>Jesse, Petra, and Jace shared a look, before Petra started after Slab- and then got shoved back, Jace quickly catching the Blaze hybrid so that she didn't land on her butt in the snow. "No- <em>just</em> Jesse. Hadrian doesn't allow dirty Respawns in the palace," Slab sneered.</p><p>Jesse shared a startled look with the Blaze hybrid, who said, with a slight scoff, "Okay... well... be safe, Jesse. I don't trust them."</p><p>Jace nodded and, letting go of Petra, nearly tackled his twin in a hug. "And don't annoy them!"</p><p>"I'll try not to," Jesse said drily, making the two of them grin as he let go, and then giving them a wave as she trotted after Slab in a hurry, who was already at least ten feet in front of her.</p><p>"Psst! Hey!" and Jesse turned to see the worker from yesterday, hiding behind a tree. "I need to talk to you."</p><p>"Keep up, come on!" Slab barked back to Jesse.</p><p>The worker gestured frantically. "Come here, it'll be quick!"</p><p>"Jesse! You gonna do what I say or not?"</p><p>Jesse glanced between the two, biting her lip gently, and, giving the worker a regretful look, she whispered, "I'm sorry," before turning to Slab with a sigh. "I-I'm coming." And then she jogged through the snow over to Slab, trying not to look behind her- she didn't want to see the look on the worker's face.</p><p>"Good. I appreciate you bein' considerate," Slab said, his expression more mild than before as the dark-haired spider hybrid caught up to him, "my job's on the line here, too, y'know. I hope Hadrian's in a good mood."</p><p>Jesse thought about that for a second, before saying, curiously, "Hey, Slab... do you even <em>like</em> this job?"</p><p>Slab thought about that as well. "Y'know, it's got its benefits. I get to beat up people... and most people are scared of me, which is cool... it's not so bad... but the Old Builders aren't so great," and he dropped his voice, as if afraid someone would hear that.</p><p>And the two of them kept walking through the snow.</p><hr/><p>Jesse stared around her.</p><p>This place was <em>fancy</em>.</p><p>Like, seriously- the only two other places she'd been which had been THIS fancy was the palace in Sky City, and maybe Cassie's mansion. The glowstone was surrounded by gold stained glass, there were tall windows, the walls were made of solid quartz... there was even a little bookshelf in the corner. (What? Jesse loved to read.)</p><p>"Wow," she said, slowly. "So <em>this</em> is how the Old Builders live."</p><p>"Totally epic, right?" Slab agreed, grinning at the huge room. "Sometimes I just like to stand here and..." he gestured vaguely.</p><p>Jesse's eyes were practically glowing as she looked around her. "Holy crap, Soren and Lukas would probably LOVE to see a place like this... it's beautiful! Amazing use of scale and angles..."</p><p>Slab grinned at her. "Right? Knew you'd be impressed. I get to hang out here whenever I want. And thanks to you actually helping us keep on schedule, we have some extra time to enjoy the place! I'll go get Hadrian."</p><p>He started walking off, before pausing. "Oh- and don't touch <em>anything.</em>"</p><p>And then he left.</p><p>Jesse looked around her, a small smile playing on her face. "Well, he said don't touch anything... he never said I couldn't look at EVERYTHING."</p><p>She made a beeline to the bookshelf and put her hands on her knees, looking at some of the titles. "Hm, no Portal Atlas. 'A Man Forever Voyaging' by- Soren?! How in the world did Hadrian get this?" Jesse wondered, straightening back up. She'd have to ask when they got home.</p><p>Man... how was home? Had Magnus and Axel succeeded in their quest of blowing every single thing up? Hopefully not... Jesse would really like a cup of coffee when she got home.</p><p>She trotted over to the window and looked out, letting out a little whistle. "Now that's a view... hey, there's Petra and Lukas." And she waved, before remembering that they probably couldn't see her. Whoops.</p><p>Finally, she got up and walked over to a set of armor that was being illuminated. It was white, lined with gold and diamond and other things. She let out a low whistle. "Now <em>that </em>is some cool armor. Hey... that's that... uh, 'Tim' guy's armor... wonder what it's doing here..."</p><p>"Welcome, Jesse!" Jesse started a bit and turned to see Hadrian standing just behind her. Creepy, much... "Fantastic to have you here, just <em>fantastic</em>. Thanks for accepting my invitation."</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Well... it wasn't so much as an invitation as it was an order."</p><p>Hadrian shrugged that off, leaning back to admire the armor. "Well, seems appropriate that you'd gravitate towards Tim's armor... what with everyone calling you the 'New Tim' down there."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0160"><h2>160. Bombshell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Yes, I've heard the rumors that they're calling you that and I can see why," Hadrian continued, "people <em>love</em> an underdog story."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "I have heard no rumors, except for the mention that I could be like Tim, and that was from ONE person." She hesitated for a moment. "Nice office though."</p><p>Hadrian blinked. For a moment, he seemed unsure what to say. "... you can look closer," he said, gesturing at the armor finally, "go ahead."</p><p>Jesse turned to the armor, looking it over. It was nice, but of course Jesse could never <em>wear</em> it... what with the extra arms and all... and while Tim may have been slightly bigger than she was this armor was not as flexible or as stretchy as the other armors she'd been lucky to get in the past.</p><p>"I assume by now you've heard all about Tim?" Hadrian added, making Jesse look over at him.</p><p>"Well, I've heard about him. Quite repeatedly, too, I might add," Jesse agreed mildly, shrugging a bit.</p><p>"Everyone loves him. And why shouldn't they?"</p><p>Jesse's brow furrowed a bit. "... yeah. Seems like he really gives them hope."</p><p>"Even better than that," Hadrian said casually, "they really believe in him. Tim is an inspiration to them, even when he's not here. One could argue that he's an inspiration BECAUSE he's not here."</p><p>Jesse frowned at him, brow furrowing as her mental gears started clicking. "It's so much easier for a legend to stay nice and shiny when it's a fond memory," Hadrian continued mildly, "easier to control it. I've been watching your legend grow, but I worry that with you still in the picture, it could get... messy. I'm starting to think it would be best if you... made a quiet exit."</p><p>"Are you trying to change the terms of our deal?" Jesse asked flatly.</p><p>"Think of this as a... shiny <em>new</em> deal," Hadrian said, in a light, calm voice. "See, there's something you should know about the Games. No one ever wins unless we want them to. Not even Tim..."</p><p>"Tim's not real, is he?" Jesse asked, simply.</p><p>Hadrian's brow went up, and he gave a little nod. "... I knew you were a smart one. Incidentally, how did you know that?"</p><p>"All the signs are pointing to it. The crazy stories people tell in the mines, the way Otto called me a 'real' Tim, the way you said he's an inspiration because he's not here." Jesse's tone hardened a little bit. "You made Tim up so people would compete in the games and not just give up, didn't you?"</p><p>Hadrian let out a chuckle that made rage flash through Jesse, red hot and fiery. "Exactly. He keeps them playing the games. But no one wins. Ever. Which is why, I think it'd be in your best interest to... play along."</p><p>He turned to grin at Jesse. "Don't you miss your friends? Your treehouse?"</p><p>The rage turned to ice in Jesse's chest. "Wait- m-my <em>treehouse?</em>" she asked, incredulously.</p><p>Hadrian shrugged. "The Atlas can see where people are from, you know. And of course, I can't forget that world- it's where we set up the Bureau of Amalgamology, for the short period it was open. I had Mevia go check it out again. Turns out you're pretty famous! I was impressed!" He was strolling towards his left, a blank stretch of quartz wall.</p><p>Jesse followed Hadrian over, as he said casually, "Had her bring back some things you might be interested in..."</p><p>Whipping out his pickaxe, he mined through the wall in less than thirty seconds, Jesse approaching the new doorway- and stopping in her tracks. "Axel? Olivia?!" And she raced into the room, which was made completely of obsidian and the little 'windows' were blocked with bars. They were wearing... collars, of a sort. Black collars with strange blue-green gems in them.</p><p>"Jesse!" they chorused, loudly, beaming at her.</p><p>"Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're <em>here!</em>" Jesse blurted, staring from the creeper hybrid to the Enderman hybrid, "how come you're not getting out? How did you get here?"</p><p>"Yeah, this creepy blue-haired lady showed up-"</p><p>Jesse grinned at Axel's description of Mevia.</p><p>"Knocked us out, and now we're in these little boxes. They gave us collars, too- I think they suppress our powers or something, because the most I can manage when trying to explode is a couple sparks, and Olivia can't teleport. I mean, she can move a few inches, but that's it."</p><p>"What's going on here?" Olivia asked, standing on her tiptoes a bit as Jesse looked at the Enderman hybrid.</p><p>"I'm going to get you guys free, I <em>promise</em>," Jesse said, crossing her heart and then covering her eye.</p><p>Axel gave Jesse a sort of lopsided grin. "Well, it's great to hear that YOU'RE not a prisoner at least."</p><p>Jesse rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish chuckle. "Ahh... well, I kind of am, but... different..."</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>"I'm just glad we're all back together," Olivia said, and indeed, the beaming grin that was on her face glowed brighter than her Enderman eye.</p><p>"Just <em>wait</em> till I tell the others you're here... I've missed you guys so much," Jesse said, sounding relieved as she approached the Enderman hybrid's cage.</p><p>"Wow," Hadrian spoke up, making Jesse jump a bit- she'd actually <em>forgotten</em> he'd existed, even- "This is just... wow. Such a tapestry of human drama and emotion. And we haven't even gotten to the best part!"</p><p>Jesse glared at him as Hadrian kept speaking, lightly and casually, "You know, respawning has changed <em>magnificently</em> over the past ten years or so. Now we can respawn people who didn't die in respawn zones, respawn people from a hundred years ago, even, the <em>only</em> limitation... is that the person we're respawning has to be human. Or at least half."</p><p>"Where are you going with this, Hadrian?" Jesse said, gritting her teeth.</p><p>"You remember some of the scientists back at the Bureau, right? Well, we went to your place, and we got some DNA of someone you <em>very</em> obviously missed. Mevia asked around; she got some <em>very</em> good answers. Well, we brought the DNA back, and we've created yet another hybrid- he can be a violent little one, that's for sure..."</p><p>Jesse went still, as did Axel and Olivia. "Oh... Jesse, you're- you're going to get a bit of a shock here," Olivia started speaking in Jesse's ear, rapidly, softly, and so fast that Jesse almost didn't hear it.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Jesse asked, slowly, to both Hadrian and Olivia.</p><p>"Isn't it obvious?" Hadrian asked, a wicked smile on his face.</p><p>Jesse shook her head with a derisive little laugh as she realized who he HAD to mean. "There- there's no way-"</p><p>She froze, the laugh dying where it was in her throat, as a little head appeared at the bars, face pale. He was short, and really looked more like a child than anything. He had slightly longish pink hair, a pair of pink pig ears, and was wearing a white shirt, like she had back in the lab.</p><p>But what really convinced her were the so very familiar pale brown eyes that met hers, stared into hers, the shock she was feeling reflected in those pale brown eyes, that hint of intelligence that had drawn her to him so long ago fixed in them.</p><p>After what felt like ages, Jesse spoke in a whisper, unable to speak above it. She felt as though her vocal cords were being strangled, her lungs felt strangely empty, and the whole room was tilting, spinning, even as she stood immobile and staring at the one being she'd never thought she'd see again.</p><p>"Reuben?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0161"><h2>161. Deal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a silence, that stretched out for minutes that felt like hours.</p><p>Then the returning whisper- so quiet that Jesse almost didn't hear it.</p><p>"Jesse...?"</p><p>The kid's big brown eyes were even bigger as he gaped at her, mouth hanging open. "Is that you?" he asked, finally, but Jesse wasn't listening anymore, she was reaching through the bars and lifting the side of his shirt.</p><p>On his left side was that mark that Jesse had practically memorized.</p><p>She let the cloth drop. "Reuben?" she repeated, and her eyes were watering, and she wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.</p><p>After all, it's not every day your best friend comes back from the dead.</p><p>The kid stared back, eyes big, and he nodded, slowly. "Yeah," he said, a little breathlessly.</p><p>Jesse turned to Hadrian almost mechanically, eyes puzzled from where she was now kneeling, eye level with the little kid who was now Reuben. "So... you used to Atlas to kidnap all of my best friends... and brought Reuben back. Why?"</p><p>Hadrian said, casually, "Incentive, Jesse, incentive. See, even if you win, and that's a mighty big <em>if</em>... they'll still be staying to work in the mines. Even the kid. Forever. Or until they get a shot at competing, which is... still basically forever."</p><p>Jesse found herself on her feet. "No," she said, a bit too loudly.</p><p>Hadrian just grinned evilly at her, his dark brown, almost black eyes practically glowing. "Yes," he responded calmly.</p><p>Jesse's fists started to clench, so hard that her nails were digging into her palms. "Okay. So what's your deal, then?"</p><p>"If you LOSE the next match and go work in my mines... Then I'll let your friends go. All of 'em. Even your brother. You'll just have to stay behind in their place. Of course, if you don't agree to this deal... well I can't guarantee their safety."</p><p>Jesse's lungs inflated so fast it hurt.</p><p>"I can tell you that a creeper hybrid would be <em>very</em> much up for dissecting... even an Enderman hybrid would garner quite some money, and a pig hybrid would be pretty good too... and of course," and Hadrian's smile widened, "a wolf hybrid would be up for sale..."</p><p>Now Jesse's lungs were so full they were about to burst.</p><p>"Okay I'd hoped that watching your <em>sad</em> reunion would be entertaining," Hadrian sighed, pushing Jesse away from the cages, making Reuben let out a cry, "but I'm done now. Whaddya say, sport? Your freedom for theirs? Huh? Or their... safety for your freedom-"</p><p>Jesse turned away, closing her eyes, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes and voice. "You have a deal," she said softly.</p><p>"JESSE!"</p><p>All three voices chorused- Olivia's in shock, Axel's in fury, and Reuben's in desperation- but Hadrian's voice cut over all of theirs. "Hey hey! There we <em>go,</em> sport fans!"</p><p>Jesse turned back to him, giving the white-haired male a look of utter hatred as he said mildly, "Well I tell ya, I'm pretty excited about this; I think we're ALL winners here. But just be sure you don't... heh... try and reneg on me, we'll keep your friends nice and safe in here... remember," and he turned back to her, "they're counting on you."</p><p>Jesse looked past him into her friend's eyes, Reuben's face almost milk-white as he pressed his face against the bars, Olivia's look filled with utter horror, and Axel... well he just looked stunned.</p><p>"Slab!" Hadrian said out loud, making Jesse start a bit, "be a pal and give our new friend a walk home?"</p><p>A meaty hand closed on her wrist, and Jesse cried out and started struggling. "Sure thing. C'mon, Jesse," Slab said, but Jesse was barely paying attention as Hadrian built up an obsidian wall, Olivia, Axel, and Reuben disappearing from sight as the wall blocked their cages from view and Jesse found herself staring hopelessly at a black wall.</p><p>She tugged her arm from Slab's, the gladiator looking down at the girl in confusion.</p><p>Jesse stepped back, hot tears beginning to blind her.</p><p>She had to get back there.</p><p>She had to get back to the village and tell her friends <em>now</em>.</p><p>And so she turned and ran, through the hallways, through the snow, her head and heart pounding in rhythm with her feet as the hot tears in her eyes finally fell.</p><hr/><p>Jesse raced through the pathways, skidding around corners and almost tripping, falling forward and then racing forward on all eights, still trying to stop the crying. She'd been running and crying, on and off and at some points simultaneously for what felt like hours but was probably only about twenty minutes. Skidding around another corner, she spotted the others and bolted towards them.</p><p>"Jesse! You're okay!" she heard Ivor- she whipped upright and plowed into him, grabbing him in a hug and starting to cry again, her entire body starting to shake with suppressed sobs.</p><p>"Jesse? Jesse?! Did they hurt you?" and Ivor pushed her away, dark blue eyes roving over the spider hybrid frantically as Jesse bit her lip, scrabbling to stem the flow of tears.</p><p>"Did Hadrian hurt you?"</p><p>"Do I need to murder someone?"</p><p>Jesse shook her head, covering her eyes for a moment, before looking back up at her friends. "Hadrian has Axel and Olivia," she said softly.</p><p>"WHAT?!" Petra, Ivor, and Lukas chorused loudly.</p><p>"And... he has..." Jesse couldn't say it, because, okay, this was a little childish, but she was terrified that if she said it it would just turn out to be a dream or something. A hallucination, maybe.</p><p>"Who else does he have?" Petra asked, urgently.</p><p>Jesse's voice dropped, and she said, in such a quiet voice that she could barely hear <em>herself</em>, "Hadrian had one of the scientists from the Bureau of Amalgamology create another hybrid, and then he respawned the hybrid."</p><p>Lukas's brow had been furrowed, and now his eyes widened. "Wait- do you mean to say he brought back Reuben?"</p><p>Jesse swallowed and nodded.</p><p>She might as well have set off a bomb among her three friends, who started shouting in disbelief, but Jesse put a hand up for silence. "He used the Atlas to take them all from our world."</p><p>Lukas growled, pupils beginning to turn to slits. "No!"</p><p>"Are they okay?" Petra asked, a little fearfully.</p><p>"For now, besides being trapped in obsidian prisons and having their powers suppressed..."</p><p>Jace growled angrily at that.</p><p>"But..." Jesse hesitated to say the next part. "He said you'll send you all home... if I lose and go to the mines in your place."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0162"><h2>162. Why</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Petra crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the black-haired spider hybrid. "You didn't... <em>take</em> it... right?"</p><p>Jesse moved one hand to rub the back of her neck, a funny look coming onto her face.</p><p>Jace went utterly still at his twin sister's silence. Lukas's eyes widened, Ivor's mouth fell open, Petra blanched, and Cassie's fists clenched.</p><p>"<em>Why in the world did you do that?!</em>" Ivor yelled, breaking the silence that had just fallen.</p><p>"<em>No</em>," Petra said, starting to shake, staring at Jesse, gold eyes sparking, "no!" She seemed to struggle for words for a moment, before practically exploding, voice shaking and unsteady and furiously worried, "why would you <em>do</em> that?!" She stomped towards the spider hybrid, who stepped back a bit at Petra's rage.</p><p>"Oh... my... oh my my," Harper said, unsteadily, eyes wide in almost horror.</p><p>Jace shook his head in disbelief. "Sis..." he didn't seem sure what to say.</p><p>Cassie whipped out her axe, starting to stomp off. "That's it. That's <em>it</em>. I'm going to go murder Hadrian."</p><p>Jace grabbed her by the collar of her sweater and yanked her back, still staring at Jesse in utter disbelief. He looked like he just wanted to deny it, green eyes staring into Jesse's.</p><p>"If I was there none of this would've happened!" Petra fumed.</p><p>"Petra, c'mon," Jace said softly, still staring at his sister with an expression that almost made Jesse start crying again.</p><p>"I'm sure Jesse feels bad enough as it is," Lukas finished the thought.</p><p>Petra threw her hands up in the air, looking incensed but upset at the same time, "But <em>why</em> would you <em>do</em> that-"</p><p>"<em>I did it to save all of you!</em>" Jesse practically exploded. Everyone started back at the sudden shout, and a few of the other teams were looking around at the spider hybrid in slight alarm. "That's what this has all been about!"</p><p>"But you'll be trapped!" Cassie said, still struggling to get out of Jace's grip, "probably- probably forever!"</p><p>Jesse stared at them, before transferring her gaze back to the floor. "You guys are worth it."</p><p>There was a short silence before a voice said, almost dismissively, "That's ridiculous."</p><p>Jesse looked back up to see Em strolling through the snow. "There's no way Hadrian will actually send your friends home. He'll wait 'till you lose, and then send you all to the mines anyway."</p><p>Harper nodded agreement, giving Jesse a look she couldn't decipher. "Probably, while claiming that was the original deal-"</p><p>"He basically threatened to have them experimented on again if I didn't agree to the deal!" Jesse shouted, feeling tears starting to build back up again, "and I think he was threatening to <em>kill</em> them, because he was talking about dissecting them-"</p><p>"<strong><em>HE WHAT?!</em></strong>"</p><p>"And I think he was threatening to kill Jace, I don't know, I didn't ask, but I would <em>never</em> risk any of your lives just to defy him! At least if I agree it'll keep them safe for now, a-as leverage!" she shouted over their angry chorus, before burying her face in her hands.</p><p>"All right, I'm going to murder Hadrian in the worst way possible. Maybe I'll shove an axe up his-"</p><p>"I want to set him on fire. Can I set him on fire?"</p><p>"I will <em>screw him up,</em> I swear, I will claw him to <em>effing</em> death-"</p><p>"That absolute little-!"</p><p>"That settles it, I'm going to bite him hard enough to draw blood and I'm going to do it <em>now-</em>"</p><p>"I didn't tell you to make you all freak out and get angry!" Jesse interrupted, raising her head and making all of them look at her, some with slightly sheepish looks. "I told you because I need help, we <em>need</em> help."</p><p>Petra spread her arms wide, looking disgruntled, "But who's supposed to help us? Hadrian and Mevia are both <em>clearly</em> the worst."</p><p>"Clearly," Ivor responded drily, crossing his arms.</p><p>"What about the third guy?" Lukas suggested, his hands strangling his tail and his hair standing on end.</p><p>Harper blinked at him as if he had a tail- oh wait. "Otto? How could <em>he</em> help?"</p><p>All of them started to migrate towards the center of the square. "He's always stayed out of the more... lever-pulling sides of the games," Harper said, musingly, touching her lip thoughtfully.</p><p>Jesse put her lower arms on her hips, upper arms all crossing. "Well, he seems like a big fan of the rules. Maybe we could use that to our advantage," she suggested, trying to shove the horrified looks of Axel, Olivia, and (her stomach squirmed a bit) Reuben out of her head...</p><p>Harper smirked a bit, crossing her arms. "Ha, he loves rules, that's for sure. Always plays by 'em." She uncrossed her arms, a thoughtful look coming across her face. "If you won, I know he would <em>definitely</em> make sure you got that Atlas. That WAS the original deal. And he's an honorable man."</p><p>Jesse looked at the floor seriously, then back up. "Harper, Hadrian still has my friends trapped in those obsidian prisons with those... suppressing collars on."</p><p>Jace growled, ears flattening. "I <em>hate</em> those collars," he almost spat angrily.</p><p>Jesse gave her twin a sympathetic look, before back at Harper. "I'm... ninety-nine percent sure I can win the Atlas, but I'm gonna need you to get them out."</p><p>Harper reached onto her back and pulled out a diamond pickaxe, gray eyes deadly serious. "I can handle it."</p><p>"Good," Jesse said, feeling a rush of relief. "There's three of them- they're in Hadrian's office."</p><p>Harper gave her a firm nod, putting the pickaxe back away.</p><p>"Wait wait wait," Em said, making Jesse and a couple of the others start a little bit- they'd forgotten she was there. "You really think you can free EVERYONE in this place AND win the games?"</p><p>"Considering the fact that she's fought monsters-"</p><p>"And a Witherstorm-"</p><p>"Hung out with some Endermen-"</p><p>"Escaped a temple of doom-"</p><p>"Fell into the Void and escaped unharmed-"</p><p>"Survived a killer mansion-"</p><p>"And survived a killer computer-"</p><p>"Lived through Spleef-"</p><p>"Is a hybrid-"</p><p>"And survived the lava race-"</p><p>"We think she can handle it," Ivor, Cassie, Petra, Lukas and Jace all chorused.</p><p>Jesse blinked at them. Then back at Em. "What they said."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0163"><h2>163. Jesse Speech</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Do you really think you can just beat all the other teams by yourself?" Em scoffed.</p><p>Jesse looked around, noticing some of the teams watching her and whispering. They started a bit when they saw her looking.</p><p>Harper winced. "That... is a pretty tall order... even for you, Jesse."</p><p>"What are you talking about, Em? She isn't going to be alone; I'm helping my sis," Jace said, sounding affronted.</p><p>"You're on my team!"</p><p>"Then help me help Jesse!"</p><p>"Well," Jesse said loudly, before the situation could get out of hand, "it's not the first impossible situation I've had to talk myself out of..." And then she rolled her eyes. "I can make a pretty good speech when I need to..."</p><p>Cassie patted the spider hybrid on the back. "Notch knows THAT'S true enough."</p><p>Jesse gave the red-haired girl a weary thumbs up, before Lukas started, letting out a soft hiss. "Whoa. Looks like we've got a little bit of an audience here."</p><p>Members from the other teams were starting to crowd around Jesse and the others, murmuring and whispering as they looked at Jesse. Petra cupped her elbows and looked at them all warily, while Jace moved to stand near the green team, Jesse's friends moving towards the front of the crowd that was forming.</p><p>Jesse looked from Em and Jace, to Lukas and Ivor, to more of the people, and then over at Petra and Cassie as the Blaze-hybrid whispered, encouragingly, "I think that's your cue to do your thing."</p><p>Jesse blinked at Petra, before taking a deep breath and stepping away from most of the people in the crowd, to try to look at all of them. "Well, I think all of you know that tomorrow is the last day of the games. Tomorrow, if we all work together, we can all <em>win</em> together."</p><p>"But Jesse, you're not on my team," a girl on the yellow team spoke, "see, my jumpsuit is yellow."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes. "I'm not one for following rules all that much, if you haven't noticed," drawing several titters from the crowd. "Not that it makes much of a difference if I <em>do</em> follow the rules- Hadrian keeps twisting and turning and changing the rules on us, to help <em>him</em> out. I say it's high time for us to change the rules on him to help <em>us</em> out."</p><p>"What's the point?" Em asked, sounding tired, "Hadrian will still have all the power. He'll just make up some new rule."</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "I thought you wanted to go home," she said quietly, stepping onto the platform with Tim's face on it.</p><p>"I do," and Em drooped a bit, "more than anything... but... nobody beats Hadrian at his own games. Nobody."</p><p>"Hey!" the blonde from the yellow team said loudly, pointing at the picture on the platform Jesse was standing on, "Tim did!"</p><p>Jesse awkwardly tugged at her hair, as the blonde raved, "That's the only thing keeping me going in here!"</p><p>"Oh yeah, because if it wasn't for Tim, I probably would've given up a <em>long</em> time ago."</p><p>Jesse's hand moved and slowly rubbed the back of her head, an awkward look on her face. "Well... actually... Tim's... not real," she said, weakly.</p><p>The entire crowd gasped loudly, except for Harper. She just blinked.</p><p>"That's... no way," the yellow team blonde said, weakly, "of course Tim's real. Look at the banners!"</p><p>"Are you sure?" Em asked, gruffly.</p><p>"Yeah," Jesse said, softly and a bit awkwardly, combing her fingers through her hair again, "Hadrian told me."</p><p>Lukas hissed even as there were more gasps, drawing Jesse's attention to her blonde ocelot hybrid friend, who was starting to growl. "I knew it! All of that stuff about him seemed so.. implausible."</p><p>"So Tim's made up?" Jace said, sounding a bit angered. His tail wasn't wagging anymore- just sitting there like a tail.</p><p>"Of course it is," Jesse said, fists clenching, "it's all about how the Old Builders keep their control over everyone."</p><p>Cassie swore from where she was standing in the crowd.</p><p>"But we can beat them!" Jesse said, putting her lower hands on her hips, a determined look coming onto her face.</p><p>Em groaned, making everyone glance at her. "The Old Builders already controlled everything else, of <em>course</em> they control the games. Why should I even try anymore-"</p><p>Jesse gave the girl an incredulous glance. "Are you just going to quit?"</p><p>"Yeah!" Nell contributed, "Quitting is like, for quitters, dude!"</p><p>Em scoffed. She did that a lot, now that Jesse thought about it. "I'll be sure to remember that the next time I've got a gladiator aiming for my head with an enchanted sword."</p><p>"She's got a point, sis," Jace said sheepishly, "those gladiators are really, really tough."</p><p>"Yeah, they're totally OP," Nell put in.</p><p>"It's called move out of the way before they smash your face in, Em," Jesse shot back sarcastically. There were a few giggles in the crowd, but Jesse kept speaking. "Yeah, the gladiators are tough, but so are we. We might not have enchanted weapons, or be as strong as they are..."</p><p>"Where's Jesse going with this?"</p><p>Jesse clapped her hands together and grinned at Cassie, whose cheeks turned pink as Winslow sniggered from where he was perched on her shoulder. "I'm glad you asked, Cassie! If we work together, and combine all of our abilities- because let's face it, we do have abilities, we're not just sheep- and stuff- we could be even tougher than the gladiators!"</p><p>"Oh I get it," Ivor said softly.</p><p>Jesse grinned at them all. "We can <em>do</em> this. You guys don't need Tim to be motivated. Because, c'mon, making it this far? Not getting thrown into the quartz mines? Working with these people even though you don't know them all <em>that</em> well? You guys <em>are</em> Tim!"</p><p>There was some cheering, although it was rather muted, which Jesse was <em>very</em> grateful for- she did not need her eardrums to be blown out.</p><p>"Look, it was a nice speech," Em said gruffly, as Jesse came back down from the platform and rejoined the others as most of the crowd dispersed, "but strength doesn't come from speeches."</p><p>"No, you're right," Jesse answered promptly, making the brown-haired girl look slightly taken aback, "my strength comes from my friends. We're all <em>always</em> there for each other."</p><p>Jace grinned and threw an arm around his sister, as Ivor agreed softly, arms crossed, "Jesse's never given up on any of us. Not even me. And I used to be a bad guy," and there was a soft chuckle.</p><p>"Well, you are my dad," Jesse said, a wide, beaming grin on her face, spreading her arms wide. Ivor returned the grin.</p><p>Em looked at Jesse for a moment. "Maybe." And then she walked off.</p><p>"Man, some crowd," Lukas said to Jesse, making her look at him, "think that got through to them?"</p><p>"Sure hope so," Jesse said, rubbing her eyes tiredly.</p><p>"I think after today, you need some sleep," Petra declared, giving the spider hybrid a good pat on the back.</p><p>Jesse blinked. She felt like someone was rubbing handfuls of sand into her eyes. "Actually, that would be rather nice."</p><p>"Sleepover!" and Jace bolted into the dorms.</p><p>"Come on, Jesse," and Ivor put a hand on her shoulder with a soft smile on his face as Petra and Cassie giggled and Lukas rolled his eyes with a grin, "let's get to bed."</p><p>Jesse rubbed her eyes again, a sleepy sort of smile coming over her face. "Thanks, dad."</p><p>Ivor smiled at the spider hybrid, eyes going softer as they all trotted inside. "It's no problem, Jesse."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0164"><h2>164. You're Not That Bad</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ivor was sitting in the pile of blankets on the floor. Jesse was in the center of the makeshift nest, curled up slightly. Ivor was sitting next to her and petting her gently, while Petra's head gently conked against the spider hybrid's from where she was lying, her glow fading and brightening with each inhale and exhale. The wolf and ocelot hybrid were curled up next to Jesse, Jace's head lying on Jesse's stomach and Lukas curled up at Jesse's and Petra's middle. Cassie was lying next to Ivor, Winslow sitting on her head and purring as he snoozed.</p><p>Ivor missed his robe. He didn't feel nearly so... exposed, no matter how much he crabbed about his outfit. And at least he didn't feel every little tiny breeze that blew over him.</p><p>The door creaked open, and Ivor looked up to see a pinprick of light slip into the room, a gray eye appearing at the doorway.</p><p>"Harper?" Ivor asked, softly, once the initial surprise wore off.</p><p>The door eked open more as Harper jumped a bit, looking startled. "Oh- I didn't expect anyone to be up," she whispered back, one hand over her heart as she edged into the room, backlit from the ambient gold light and making a long shadow fall over the floor.</p><p>Ivor shrugged. "Can't sleep." And this was with a small calming potion to boot.</p><p>"Ah." Harper lingered in the doorway, halfway in the room and halfway out.</p><p>"...You can come in, you know."</p><p>Harper's cheeks seemed to turn faintly pink as she crept in, but it was too dim to see for sure. "Ah. Okay."</p><p>Ivor smirked slightly, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit and hoping the dimness was concealing it. "You can come <em>near</em> us, you know- none of us bite. Unless provoked."</p><p>Harper chuckled softly, edging further into the room as she shut the door and coming over to where Ivor was sitting, sitting at the edge of the nest of blankets. "I know, I know." She was quiet for a moment, before adding, quietly, "You and Jesse are very close, aren't you." It was not a question, even though it seemed to be phrased a bit like one.</p><p>Ivor looked down at the spider hybrid, whose expression was oddly peaceful. She usually looked cheerful... or determined, or angry, or a whole myriad of emotions, but right now she looked oddly blank and peaceful, like all people who were sleeping and not having a nightmare. "Very," he agreed softly, moving his hand and touching his adoptive daughter's hair.</p><p>Harper was quiet, before saying softly, "You said earlier... that you were a bad guy?"</p><p>"Ah," and Ivor's eyes shut as he thought back. "The- the whole story's very long, but... the short version is, my friends and I had had... quite the falling out. They- they lied, and, well... I didn't want to. I did quite a stupid thing to get revenge... I guess in hindsight I could've used a truth potion or something. Instead I created an unstoppable monster that stopped at nothing to consume the whole world. If Jesse hadn't been able to stop it..." He trailed off. He actually didn't want to think about it, now that he thought about it.</p><p>Harper was quiet for a couple of moments. "Back in the tunnels... to get to the lab. You said you could empathize with my creation getting out of hand... is that what you meant?"</p><p>Ivor didn't open his eyes. "Yes," he said softly.</p><p>Another silence. "Well I don't think you're that bad."</p><p>Ivor opened his eyes and looked at Harper, who was sitting a little closer to him in the nest, almost sitting on top of the nest. "You're with Jesse. Comparing what you and Cassie did... well, I'm not surprised that Jesse'd forgive the both of you. I think she can just tell... that you're not that bad. I guess deep down inside there's a part of you the two of you showed even at your worst... that you weren't that bad..." Harper huffed a bit, making Ivor look over at her. "Well one thing I'm not good at is trying to be motivational."</p><p>Ivor snickered a bit at that, making the Old Builder blush and playfully glare at him, before registering something. "Oh, you know about Cassie?" he asked, a bit surprised.</p><p>Harper shrugged. "She told me on our way here," she responded casually.</p><p>"Oh." Ivor hesitated, one hand on Jesse's back, the other in his lap. "I'm glad you think so."</p><p>"I know so. I don't know Jesse that well, but if she forgave you, you can't be that bad." Another short silence from Harper, before she said, in a smaller voice, "I don't think you're bad."</p><p>Ivor let out a soft sigh and moved one hand that covered his eyes, which shut- both from tiredness, and partially to hide the gratitude glowing in his eyes. "... thank you," he said quietly.</p><p>"Not at all." And then something warm pressed against his cheek, making his eyes widen before he removed his hand to see Harper leaning back, her cheeks rather red- this was evident even in the dim light. Judging by how his face suddenly felt like it was on fire, the redness in his face was obvious now too, as Ivor stared wordlessly at the former Old Builder, dark blue eyes wide.</p><p>"... well, good night Ivor," Harper said, in a tiny little voice, and then she lay down, turning away from him.</p><p>Ivor lay down as well, hands resting on Jesse's back as he stared at nothing, eyes wide in surprise still. Even though only minutes before he'd been feeling rather sleepy, his heart was now racing at a hundred miles an hour.</p><p>A faint smile curved on his mouth.</p><p>Good thing Cassie wasn't awake right about now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0165"><h2>165. The Walls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege- nay, my honor- to be here today kicking off another WONDERFUL day of The Games!" Hadrian's voice shouted over the speakers.</p><p>"That's right, Hadrian," Otto agreed as Jesse trotted along, a little ways in front of Facemeat, "and not just any day- but the <em>final</em> day of The Games! Are our competitors ready for the final challenge... the W-"</p><p>"It's the Walls!" Mevia interrupted.</p><p>"So," and Jesse glanced over her shoulder at Facemeat, "scared? Because it's okay if you are. No one will judge you for it."</p><p>Jesse sighed. "If I can handle wacko-Magnus, I'm pretty sure I can handle this." A flash of a memory of TNT flying everywhere made a small smile come over her face.</p><p>"Still got your sense of humor, I see," Facemeat said, crossing his arms, "cute."</p><p>Jesse struck a ridiculous pose, making Facemeat snicker. "Thanks, I try."</p><p>"Mevia, for those unfamiliar with 'The Walls', you wanna walk us through how it's played?" Hadrian asked his cyan-haired cohort.</p><p>"Sure thing, Hadrian. Teams start out separated in their own sections divided by the high inner walls. Each team has a short amount of time to gather materials, build defenses, and craft in their section, before 'The Walls' come down."</p><p>Jesse blinked. "Wait, I only see gravel and dirt in my section..."</p><p>And sure enough, Jesse's was probably the most barren section of all of the sections, with only dirt, gravel, and a crafting table in it.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry," Facemeat said in a rather mocking voice, "is that gonna be a problem?"</p><p>Jesse shrugged and pulled out her axe with her lower arm, twirling it in the air casually. "I guess not, since I still have this lovely weapon in my arsenal. And since I'm a spider hybrid. So I guess it's not too much of an issue..."</p><p><em>I think</em>, she added mentally.</p><p>"Once the walls are down," Mevia continued, "it's every team for themselves!"</p><p>"So it's the Hunger Games," Jesse muttered flatly and a bit sharply, "good to know."</p><p>Hadrian chuckled a bit. "But is surviving 'The Walls' the end, Mevia?"</p><p>"No it is not Hadrian," Mevia said, sounding a little smug, "whichever team survives the free for all has to step onto the Winner's Platform in the center of the arena."</p><p>"Winner takes all!" Otto agreed.</p><p>"But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because that's only if the would-be winners can defeat-"</p><p>"Ouuuur gladiators!"</p><p>Facemeat shot Jesse a grin, which Jesse just rolled her eyes at. "So all the competitors better get to gathering materials because that clock! Is! Ticking!"</p><p>Jesse just sat down on a lump of dirt, twirling her axe in the air with her lower arms and playing cats cradle with the upper ones. Since there was <em>only</em> dirt and gravel in her section, she saw no point in trying to make anything.</p><p>"Hadrian," Otto spoke, making Jesse glance up slightly, still playing with her webs, "I can't help but notice that our newcomer, Jesse's, section has a disproportionate amount of dirt and gravel... and that she's not trying to mine any of it..."</p><p>"Yes, I suppose our newcomer Jesse has a plan! <em>Or a deal.</em>"</p><p>"Hilarious!" Mevia chuckled.</p><p>Jesse considered pulling a Cassie-Rose and flipping the bird at them.</p><p>She decided against it. She began to drift off into thinking, before suddenly her eyes widened, she jumped to her feet, and she quickly stowed her axe away.</p><p>Mining parts of the floor away rapidly, leaving several holes, she built three spires, and then she flicked her wrists. "Alrighty," she hummed, feeling the familiar push of string and silk against her hands, "let's see what I can do here..."</p><p>And she got to work with her silk.</p><p>About five minutes later, Jesse pulled up one last knot and moved into position, perching on one of the thicker strings, waiting patiently.</p><p>"Ohhh, do you know what time it is? Ask me what time it is, Mevia," Hadrian said, casually.</p><p>"What time is it, Hadrian?" Mevia asked, standing up and walking to where Hadrian was standing.</p><p>"It's time for the walls to come down!"</p><p>Pulling out her axe, Jesse sat there and waited patiently as the sandy walls came thundering down.</p><p>"Oh, what's this?" Otto exclaimed, as several people gasped loudly, "looks like our newcomer has a couple tricks up her sleeve! Or should I say strings?"</p><p>Jesse smirked up at the Old Builders from where she was perched on top of her highly elaborate, complex web, which was flat and lay across three spires. Swinging back down to the ground, she twirled her axe casually and stood there patiently. "If you're going to come kill me, come kill me then," she called lazily.</p><p>"This should be interesting," Otto said.</p><p>"Very," Hadrian said, a bit more darkly, before picking up, once again like a sports announcer, "The competitors are like wild ocelots-"</p><p>Jesse smirked again; Lukas would not like that comparison.</p><p>"-sizing each other up, unmoving, before they go in for the kill."</p><p>Em turned to look at Jesse. Jesse stared back at her, her stomach doing a slow sort of backflip.</p><p>"Hey! Jesse!" Nell shouted, waving to the dark-haired spider hybrid. Jesse waved feebly back, and Jace bounced in place, glancing at Em to Jesse and back to Em again, looking both excited, warning, and highly nervous.</p><p>Em started walking towards Jesse, unsheathing an iron sword with a soft growl.</p><p>"Looks like the gladiator formerly known as Emily is preparing her attack!" Hadrian announced, his voice barely hiding his glee.</p><p>"What is this, Pokemon?" Jesse snapped back at the Old Builder.</p><p>"And Jesse, the newcomer, is just <em>painfully</em> unarmed and unprotected..."</p><p>"Am I really now," Jesse responded, with a roll of her green-and-red eyes.</p><p>"Em," Jace said, his bouncing slowing as he gave the former gladiator a stern look, "think about this carefully..."</p><p>"I <em>have</em>," Em said, gritting her teeth.</p><p>Jesse's lower arms let the axe drop to the ground calmly, as the spider hybrid crossed her upper arms. "Go ahead, Em," she said, calmly.</p><p>Em came stalking towards Jesse, sword in hand, a strange, unreadable expression on her face.</p><p>"Jesse isn't even trying to defend herself!" Otto declared, as if this was not already obvious.</p><p>Jesse crossed her arms and shut her eyes plainly, standing still, waiting for Em to hit her with the sword.</p><p>It didn't come.</p><p>Not all that surprised, Jesse opened her eyes to see Em holding the sword out to her, a small smile on her face.</p><p>"Thought I'd try giving that 'friends' thing a shot."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0166"><h2>166. We Are the Champions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse took the sword, twirled it, and flicked her axe back up, a small smile on her face. "Well... thanks, Em," she said, unable to stop grinning at the former gladiator.</p><p>"No problem," Em said, returning the grin, "You could say you really inspired me."</p><p>Jesse reached out and patted the girl on the shoulder. "I knew you weren't going to kill me."</p><p>"Did you now?"</p><p>Jesse thought about it for a second. "Not really. I was just hoping."</p><p>"I guess hoping paid off," and Em gave the girl a lopsided grin, crossing her arms.</p><p>"I guess so," Jesse agreed mildly enough.</p><p>"This isn't how it was supposed to go," Hadrian was hissing (quite audibly, though, since he was still talking into his microphone), "what's going on?"</p><p>"I have no idea!" Mevia whispered back, looking rather annoyed.</p><p>Em grinned at the other teams, as Jace bolted over, jumped on Jesse, and nearly succeeded in knocking the spider hybrid over. "Come on. Over here!"</p><p>With a bright grin, all the other teams ran over to where the two teams were now standing, joining the spider and wolf hybrid and the green team, as all the gladiators came over as well. "Yeah," Slab said, blinking at them all in confusion, "why aren't you all killing each other?"</p><p>Jesse blinked at the gladiators. Then back at the other competitors. "... we don't want to?"</p><p>Jace developed a suspicious cough right there on the spot.</p><p>"Yeah man," Nell said agreeably, "I can totally see why you'd be confused."</p><p>"We're not killing each other," Jace said, recovering from his little 'coughing' fit, "because we're done fighting each other, Slab. It's over. This ain't the Hunger Games."</p><p>"Uh huh," Slab said, sounding highly unconvinced, "So why do you all still have your weapons out?"</p><p>"Done fighting <em>each other</em>," Em repeated, putting more emphasis on 'each other'.</p><p>Jesse stepped forward, putting all of her non-occupied hands up in surrender. "Don't you see? None of us are the enemy," Jesse said, in a calm voice, "that would be <em>them."</em> And she pointed at the Old Builders, "they're the ones who're behind everything."</p><p>Clutch groaned, drawing all attention to the hot-pink-headed gladiator. "Arrgggh, my head hurts."</p><p>Facemeat looked pretty uncomfortable too. "Too many... perspectives..."</p><p>"Annnnd it appears that Jesse has decided that deals don't need to be kept and is trying to convince the gladiators to follow suit," Hadrian announced, sounding <em>actually</em> kind of pissed off now.</p><p>Jesse glared at Hadrian, crossing her arms. "Hey, Hadrian- deal's <em>OFF!</em>" she yelled, making everyone jump a bit at how utterly <em>furious</em> she looked at the Old Builder.</p><p>Mevia grumbled something rather rude into the microphone.</p><p>Clutch seized Slab's shoulders and started shaking her cohort so hard Jesse could almost hear his brain rattling in his head. "Slab? Slab! What should we do?!" she exclaimed.</p><p>"Uhhh... uhhh..." Slab said, looking incredibly disconcerted.</p><p>"I'm sure that the slaughter will commence soon, right?" Hadrian asked the gladiators pointedly.</p><p>"With Slab leading the charge it should be no problem at all!" Mevia agreed, shooting Jesse what the spider hybrid was sure was an incredibly poisonous glare but which Jesse could not see due to the Old Builder being up on a platform.</p><p>Jesse shrugged. "Hey, it's up to you to do whatever you want to do... but honestly, it'd probably be in a better interest for you to fight back against those- those Old Builders!" Now that she thought about it, she <em>did</em> see Harper's point; that name was quite... awkward to say; but heck it made a <em>great</em> insult to the two brightly colored living fossils (she was okay with Otto... sort of).</p><p>"No way," Clutch said immediately, "I <em>am</em> very strong... but not strong enough for that."</p><p>Facemeat snorted in agreement, "Yep, <em>that</em> is some straight crazy talk."</p><p>And the gladiators turned around and started walking off the field, still looking incredibly disoriented.</p><p>Jesse looked to Slab, who was glancing over his shoulder at his friends. "Not... going with them, Slab?" she asked, curiously.</p><p>Slab hesitated, before he started speaking. "In my life, I've done some things I'm not proud of. But I won't work for bosses who use people, or manipulate them. That's inconsiderate." And he glared at the Old Builders for a moment, and then he looked back at Jesse, who blinked as he neared her. "But you? When I was mean to you, pushed you around and made you go to the tower with me? You got that I was just doin' my job and came anyway so we could be on time. That was real considerate." He gave Jesse what the spider hybrid was sure was meant to be a comforting pat on the back but in reality made the girl's knees buckle as she almost did a faceplant on the ground. "I will fight the Old Builders," Slab said a bit obliviously, "by your side."</p><p>Jace helped his sister back up, who grinned at him before speaking again, "I think it's about time we finish this- together."</p><p>And they all started walking towards the platform in the center of the arena. "It appears that all of the competitors are headed towards the victory platform," Otto spoke, "as stated in the rules, ANYONE who is not eliminated may step on the victory platform and win the games! It looks like they are going to do this together!"</p><p>Jesse put her weapons away and gave Em a nervous grin.</p><p>Em returned it with a smirk of her own. "After you, fearless leader."</p><p>"Oh haha."</p><p>"E tu, Slab? You'll pay for this!" Hadrian yelled at the gladiator, who gave him a cold look in response.</p><p>"This wasn't the deal, Jesse!"</p><p>"I just told you that the deal's off, you imbecile!" Jesse snapped back, climbing the ladder and reaching the top in moments.</p><p>"And they've done it!" Otto said loudly, all of them climbing to the top of the platform, "the competitors have all stepped onto the platform together, which, by the Builder bylaws, means they! Are! All! The! Winners!"</p><p>And the competitors all cheered.</p><p>If only Jesse's instincts weren't screaming that something was going to go horribly wrong.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0167"><h2>167. The At-- oh, wait, Wrong Chapter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Which, I'm sure my colleague <em>means</em> to say," Mevia said nervously as the competitors all cheered (and Jace accidentally tackled his sister off the platform with joy, but that was irrelevant), "we are going to find <em>some</em> way to disqualify them?"</p><p>"No we are not!" Otto said, almost cutting the cyan-haired woman off, "they <em>all</em> win!"</p><p>Jesse grinned (slightly painfully) from where she lay flat on her back in the grass, Jace sitting back on his haunches and smiling sheepishly at his sister. Good ol' Otto.</p><p>Mevia shrieked something indistinguishable and Hadrian said sharply, "Mevia, Otto- with me! We're ending this!"</p><p>Jesse got to her feet and heard a furiously hissed, "We. Had. A. Deal!" Jesse looked over to see Hadrian and Mevia's eyes clearly wishing her a painful death, while Otto just looked faintly amused. "And you BROKE it, bucko!"</p><p>"I literally told you thirty seconds ago that the deal was off," Jesse responded, spreading her arms wide to emphasize her point, "I just didn't have time to tell you before." Somehow she managed to convey an air of complete and utter innocence, green and red eyes wide with mock-surprise.</p><p>"This isn't up to you," Mevia nearly snarled, shoving her purple-clothed cohort aside and getting right up in Jesse's face. Jesse noticed that Mevia's eyes were actually a shade of murky cyan. "WE control the games. <em>We</em> decide their outcome!"</p><p>Jesse's arms all crossed, over her stomach, her ribs, and her chest. "So... you admit the games are rigged?"</p><p>Mevia stuttered for a second. "S-s-sure! Okay. Sure. Fine! Whatever!"</p><p>"Mevia," Otto said, calmly, making the cyan-haired female whip to him with an utterly livid look on her face, "Jesse won these games fair and square."</p><p>"Otto," Hadrian muttered through gritted teeth, "I would think <em>very carefully</em> about what you're doing-"</p><p>Otto cut him off, shooting his friend a look over his shoulder, "I <em>have.</em>"</p><p>He turned back to the spider hybrid, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a glowing, gold book. "Jesse, with the power vested in me as an officiator of the Builder Games, I am proud to present-"</p><p>"<em>LOOK OUT!</em>" Jesse and Jace shouted in unison.</p><p>Neither of them knew why- but all of a sudden, Jace's hair and tail were standing up, ears upright and rigid, every hair on the back of Jesse's neck was prickling and rising, and there was a plunging feeling in Jesse's stomach.</p><p>Not that it mattered- Hadrian and Mevia had moved forward so suddenly that the moment the shout was out, there was an obsidian prison encasing Otto, whose shouts were muffled through the black stone.</p><p>"Now it's been fun, <em>really</em>," Mevia sneered, "but I think it's about time we <em>end</em> this."</p><p>Jesse's arms whipped out her weapons, her entire body moving backwards as Jace drew his own sword, growling loudly and angrily. Nell said, sounding incredibly affronted, "Whoa. This is <em>majorly</em> bogus, dudes."</p><p>"Surrender the Redstone Heart," Hadrian said, his eyes glinting dangerously, "<em>now.</em>"</p><p>Jesse shrugged, adjusting her stance automatically. "If you want it, come and <em>get it,</em>" she gritted out.</p><p>"Your wish is my command, buckaroo," Hadrian said, leering at her, before he and Mevia started moving, and they were moving fast. Within MOMENTS they'd trapped the competitors within a small obsidian prison, all of the cries of the other competitors muffled from the thick, almost impervious stone.</p><p>Em's eyes narrowed. "... oh, this is <em>useless-</em>" And the burly girl bolted.</p><p>Jesse grimaced a bit, but she said nothing- now was... really not the time for that.</p><p>"Well, well," Hadrian said lightly, and Mevia sneered in agreement, "Just when you thought Em had your back!"</p><p>"Turns out she's a backstabber."</p><p>"Don't you <em>dare</em> talk about my friend like that!" Jace barked sharply.</p><p>"Seems like classic Emily," Hadrian said airily, ignoring the wolf hybrid's angry retort and hopping down from the top of his obsidian prison, "she's always been a touchy one."</p><p>"I'm still with you, Jesse. And you, Jace," Slab said, brandishing his sword.</p><p>"Thanks, Slab," Jesse said gratefully, Jace giving the gladiator a jerky little salute, green eyes starting to turn red as he glanced from Slab to the two Old Builders.</p><p>"You're gonna need all the help you can <em>get,</em> Jesse!"</p><p>"Sis! Look out!"</p><p>Jesse whipped around to see a staircase, then looked up- then lunged to her left, Jace lunging out of the way so as to not trip her up. Hadrian spun to face Jesse- she lashed out with her axe- it glanced off a shield and made the girl stagger back a step or two.</p><p>"I'll admit you're quick, sport," Hadrian sneered, "but not quick enough for my axe!"</p><p>Jesse backed up a step- then bumped into a wall. She looked up in confusion. "What the-?"</p><p>"Don't forget <em>my</em> axe, Hadrian!"</p><p>Jesse looked down and to her right to see Mevia swinging an axe at her-</p><p>She whipped down to all eights, the axe slamming into the wall where Jesse's head and neck had just been and smashing two blocks free as Mevia cackled maniacally.</p><p>Jesse whipped around- and was slammed backwards with a sharp "<em>uhf!</em>" as Hadrian kicked her in the ribs, knocking her into a slime block, and rebounding- to see a block of TNT.</p><p>Scrambling to all eights, her ribs gasping in pain, she was suddenly flipped sideways, her brother catching her and staggering a step before regaining his balance.</p><p>Jesse flipped to her feet, eyes wide as the gladiator threw his body over the TNT to shield the explosion. "It was an honor to fight beside you-" He was cut off as the TNT exploded, taking Slab with it.</p><p>"Slab!" Jesse both cried out and groaned.</p><p>Jace grimaced as he and his sister looked at each other. "Well... this took a bit of a turn for the worse."</p><p>"No, ya think?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0168"><h2>168. An Unexpected Intrusion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse ran after Hadrian, her entire body climbing up the obsidian structure trapping the other competitors in moments, eight limbs propelling her up the wall, her feet landing sharply on the 'roof' and her arms wielding her axe and sword.</p><p>"Gotta admit kid, you've shown you've got skills," Hadrian said, standing at the other end of the obsidian roof, holding his own sword casually, "but you're still no match for me!"</p><p>Jesse glanced past him to the huge pit behind him, then back to the smug-looking Old Builder.</p><p>Actually, now that she thought about it, the Old Builder was... surprisingly fast for his age.</p><p>Jace was running off on all fours to someone on the side, tail flapping in the air, but Jesse couldn't quite spot who it was- it was out of her peripheral vision. Ignoring it for now, she charged towards Hadrian, green and red eyes hard with anger. "We'll see about <em>that!</em>" she yelled sharply.</p><p>"I got this Hadrian!" Mevia shouted confidently, leaping onto the roof in a swift movement in front of Jesse, and lifting a sword, drawing it back to hit Jesse-</p><p>Jesse dropped to all eights, scrambling under the wide sweeping axe-blade as it whooshed over her head harmlessly, although it <em>barely</em> missed her head, and then whipped back to her feet in a moment and slammed into Hadrian full force with a loud hiss of anger. She flew forward as well, doing a little flip and landing on the grass safely while Hadrian was sent flying backwards into the pit by sheer momentum.</p><p>Jesse glared down at the Old Builder, who was scrambling to his feet in the pit. "Had enough there, old man?" she hissed, fists tightening on her axe handle and sword hilt simultaneously as she stalked towards the edge of the pit.</p><p>"Wait, wait!" Hadrian shouted desperately, making the spider hybrid pause as she stopped at the edge of the pit, looking up at Jesse with a sorry expression, "you're right, this has gone too far! It was just supposed to be a game!"</p><p>Jesse scoffed, glaring down at him with a corrosive hatred eating at her, boiling in her blood, threatening to spill out of her throat.</p><p>She wasn't usually this unforgiving...</p><p>but forcing people to play in his Games just because he wanted them to? Threatening to kill her friends and <em>Reuben</em> if she didn't agree to his horrible terms, <em>enslaving</em> people to work for what could be <em>eternity</em> if they lost?</p><p>She just couldn't forgive that.</p><p>She just couldn't.</p><p>"You expect me to believe that?" she asked harshly.</p><p>"Come on, sport," Hadrian said beseechingly, "haven't you ever had anything get away from you before? Can't you... forgive me?"</p><p>Jesse was watching him sternly, eyes beginning to soften slightly, when suddenly, every hair on her neck rose- she whipped around, raising her sword automatically in a block-</p><p>Mevia's enchanted diamond blade slammed right through Jesse's weaker iron one, making the spider hybrid stagger off balance and fall, landing harshly on her back with a startled yelp.</p><p>She was on a narrow strip of land that extended right over the pit that Hadrian had fallen into- for her to roll right or left would result in her falling into the pit... and then what? The only weapon she had was her axe and that wasn't enough to block attacks; and if it was she'd never learned. And Hadrian... well Hadrian had his sword, and his axe, and his pickaxe, and his shield... Jesse was definitely unequipped for this.</p><p>Off to the side, she heard a shriek of fear from her twin brother, but he was too far from them, even if he ran full-tilt from where he was he wasn't going to make it in time. She could already hear his feet pounding from where she was on the ground, getting closer and closer, but still surely too far away... the closeness was probably due to Jesse's hearing, it was more acute, she was just trying to trick herself that it was close enough to save her...</p><p>And why was it that when she was about to die she noticed all the little details? Why was it only then that everything seemed to move slower than a lizard on an icy day?</p><p>Mevia grinned down at Jesse with an almost insane light in her eyes, switching her sword to two glowing, shining axes, as she raised them above her head, poised to strike. "This game... is <strong><em>OVER</em></strong>!" she screamed the last word and the axe came swishing down violently.</p><p>Jesse squeezed her eyes shut instinctively, waiting for the axe to slam through her.</p><p>Waiting to die.</p><p>It didn't come. But what <em>did</em> come was the sound of someone slamming forcibly into the Old Builder, who let out a loud yelp in surprise as the someone slammed into her and she fell over onto her side. Something heavy thudded into the ground right next to Jesse's face, barely missing her ear. That would probably be one of the axes...</p><p>Jesse didn't dare open her eyes for a moment. And then she did, a little afraid of what she might see.</p><p>And then her eyes widened in shock, jaw falling open and practically hitting the floor at who was standing in front of her</p><p>"Well, I did owe you," Aiden said, extending his hand with a sheepish smile.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0169"><h2>169. A Rather Welcome Intervention</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse gaped at Aiden, not taking his hand, silence stretching out for a full six seconds.</p><p>And then she came back to life.</p><p>"But you-but how- but- you were- huh?!" she blurted, eyes wider than dinner plates.</p><p>Aiden grinned sheepishly. "Well, we had some unexpected guests in Sky- well, Land- well, the city, and... well, a bunch of people decided to come help."</p><p>A loud clucking startled Jesse, and she almost fell backwards into the pit as a little chicken head popped up right in front of Jesse, clucking.</p><p>"Benedict! Oh, hello, Jesse. Are you all right?"</p><p>If Jesse's eyes had been wide a minute ago, they were now the size of those fancy dishes with the platter cover on top. Isa's gold dress was a bit dirty, and her makeup was a bit faded, but she still held herself like the ruler of Sky City that Jesse had known.</p><p>Jesse stared, before moving her head to look past the three of them.</p><p>Maya and Gill were looking around, both looking sufficiently startled at their surroundings, as Reginald kept an eye on the two of them while Milo was looking at the obsidian with interest. Magnus's hands were on his knees as he panted, trying to catch his breath, Ellegaard trying not to look incredibly amused at the Rogue and failing miserably, Gabriel blinking at Jace who looked incredibly relieved at the sight of his sister being safe, and Soren looking off in a different direction and waving. "Hello, Harper," he called.</p><p>Jesse got to her feet slowly, vaguely noticing Mevia looking just as shell-shocked as Jesse felt and then her head swiveled to see Harper leading-</p><p>Her heart leapt. "You're okay!" she shouted, waving furiously at them and running over to Petra, Lukas, Axel, Olivia, and Ivor, Reuben riding the Blaze hybrid piggyback before she set him down. Cassie came out too, panting, holding a glowing sword before shoving it towards Jesse, who jumped back a step in surprise. "You'll need this," she said, panting as Winslow purred, looking pleased. Em and Slab followed from behind them, both of them holding enchanted weapons.</p><p>Jesse blinked at Cassie as the red-haired girl plopped the sword into her open hand, mouth still hanging open. "... huh?" she repeated.</p><p>"And... Cassie," Soren said, sounding surprised.</p><p>Cassie blinked at the ginger architect. "Soren?"</p><p>"Yo, Soren," Magnus said, sounding irritated and out of breath at the same time, "do you mind explaining how you know the makeup queen and the redhead to us? And how the pig is now human?"</p><p>Isa sputtered a little, looking a bit irritated. "'Makeup queen?'" she asked, sounding affronted.</p><p>Soren opened his mouth, perhaps to expound on it, before Jesse held up her hands, having half-recovered from the shock. "Now is not... not the time to talk about it..." She shot Hadrian and Mevia a look, "it's more of the time to deal with them before they become a bigger pain in the-" She stopped herself, not wanting to swear.</p><p>Cassie looked at Jesse with an amused expression on her lips. "Would you like me to finish that statement for you?"</p><p>"Yes please."</p><p>Cassie finished the statement and added a few more... colorful expressions to it.</p><p>Isa blinked at Cassie before looking away again, as Hadrian clambered his way out of the pit behind them.</p><p>"Okay, now less talking, more fighting. Can the... erm, older than 18-year-olds go deal with Hadrian? I'm sure I can handle both but not at the same time..." Jesse asked, quickly, glancing at the two Old Builders behind them.</p><p>Soren grinned a bit lopsidedly, whipping out his own glowing diamond sword. "I think we can handle it." Ivor smirked in agreement, pulling out his potion bag, which was covered in little fluffy bits of wool- apparently it had been recovered from Sheep World.</p><p>"I want to bite Hadrian's leg off, so I'm going with them," Jace reported, pointing at the adults in the room.</p><p>"Good. And please do, Jace." And with that the two groups split up, Reuben racing to keep up with Jesse and surpassing her.</p><p>Mevia turned to see a blur of pink and white bolting at her, and she gave Jesse an incredulous laugh as the hybrids and the Blaze Rods ran towards her. "Are you seriou-"</p><p>Reuben didn't stop running, but slammed into her, making her knees buckle. But the little pig hybrid wasn't done- he brought his leg up in a fierce kick and hit Mevia in the chest, knocking her back again with a yelp, and then he punched the Old Builder in the face, before grabbing her by the front of the shirt and tossing her into the air, and then jumping up and slamming her into the ground.</p><p>Every teenager except for Jesse gaped at the little kid. Jesse glanced at Aiden. "You remember one time I told you that we would get our revenge?"</p><p>"Vividly," Aiden said, glancing back at Jesse, his mouth hanging open in stunned surprise slightly.</p><p>"I mostly meant Reuben and me more than the others. Don't ever mess with Reuben."</p><p>Aiden looked back at Reuben. "... ah."</p><p>Mevia groaned as she got back up, before a pair of hands yanked her to her feet, Aiden holding the cyan-haired woman up with a malevolent glare. "Now, what do we do now..."</p><p>"Throw her here," Maya called, waving. Aiden drew back before heaving the Old Builder at Maya, who drew her sword and then swung it like a baseball bat, knocking a rather shocked Mevia at Lukas, who slashed his claws violently before shoving her at Gill, who caught her and tossed her to Axel, who swirled her around and threw her up randomly, Petra aiming a fireball at the Old Builder and catching the edge of her robes, catching them on fire a bit.</p><p>Mevia slammed into the web Jesse had made earlier, and got rather entangled in the string. Jesse smirked sardonically. "Oh dear, my web has a fly in it. Do you mind getting her out, Olivia?" she asked, innocently.</p><p>Olivia's bright pink eyes glowed with fury as she smirked. "Oh, not at <em>all!</em>" She blinked out in a spurt of pink sparks, and she slammed her arm into Mevia's back full force, knocking the Old Builder to the ground.</p><p>Mevia let out a loud groan from where she was flat on her back, staring dizzily upwards to see a pair of glowing red eyes and a cascade of red locks, as well as an enchanted axe.</p><p>"Care to do the honors, Cassie?"</p><p>A glint of white teeth as they bared in a furious smile. "It would be my <em>pleasure!</em>" And the axe went flashing down.</p><p>Mevia's huge inventory scattered over the ground as Cassie took a deep, calming breath, eyes going back to green, and turned back and smiled at everyone in the room. "Well that was fun."</p><p>"Yeah, can't deny that."</p><p>"You said it."</p><p>Everyone agreed mildly with Cassie's statement, Winslow letting out a snigger, before suddenly they all heard a yelp.</p><p>Jesse turned to see-</p><p>Her blood went cold as Jace flew into a wall, something snapping cruelly as he hit the wall, and then fell to the ground limply.</p><p>"Jace? Ja-" She was cut off as he disappeared into smoke, his small inventory landing in a little heap.</p><p>There was an uneasy silence, as everyone stared at where Jace had hit the wall.</p><p>Jesse was especially frozen, eyes wide. Finally, her lips barely parted as she breathed out a word.</p><p>"Jace?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0170"><h2>170. Venom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse wasn't hearing anything, except for a loud roaring sound in her ears that went on and on and on, even though she knew Jace was just going to respawn, he was going to be just fine, but Hadrian had just <em>killed</em> her twin brother, who she'd really just found again, and even respawning wasn't going to change that. Slowly, she became aware of someone practically yelling in her ear.</p><p>Her head slowly swiveled to see Lukas touching her shoulder and looking at her in concern, his mouth moving but still not hearing him because he wasn't yelling anymore, he was speaking normally and Jesse couldn't hear that, not over the sound of her own blood rushing like a waterfall in her ears.</p><p>Her hand slowly moved, pushing his hand off her shoulder. "Excuse me," she said- or presumably she said it, because she couldn't hear anything, not even herself, "I need to go murder Hadrian."</p><p>And then she bolted forward.</p><p>Jesse had never known she could move so fast; she blurred past Harper, Soren, Ivor, Isa until suddenly Hadrian was looming up in front of her. He smirked at her. "You never know when to stop, do y-"</p><p>"No. I'm not listening to your bullcrap," Jesse snarled, slashing with her axe and missing as the Old Builder ducked under the attack, "I'm shutting you up, PERMANENTLY!"</p><p>Hadrian laughed, and Jesse lashed out again while he was off guard. He dodged, but not in time to avoid the axe that swished through the air and sliced his cheek. His eyes widened, and he paused, reaching up and touching his cheek. He looked at the beads of blood on his fingers, before he pushed her violently, knocking her back.</p><p>She flipped back onto her feet as Hadrian darted away-</p><p>"OI!" Magnus yelled, looking ticked, "You do NOT kidnap our friends and then get away with it!" and he yanked out a flashing block of TNT and hurled it over his head at the fleeing Old Builder, Em batting at it with her sword and sending it flying even further, so that it landed in front of Hadrian. Hadrian skidded to a halt and then dodged back, the TNT blowing a deep hole into the earth and revealing the pistons beneath it.</p><p>"Huh, like my old grinder," Soren hummed, but Jesse wasn't listening; she was staring at Hadrian, eyes blazing red, because there was no <em>absolute way he was getting away with this.</em></p><p>Hadrian built a one-block bridge and waited at the other end, sneering at Jesse. "What? You're going to kill me? I'm not a noob like Mevia is, Jesse. You'd better hope you die just as fast as your brother."</p><p>Jesse's eyes blazed red, and she ran right at Hadrian, who laughed again. His sword flicked up at the last second, and Jesse moved both the axe and the sword to block-</p><p>The ringing force Hadrian hit her blade with sent both weapons flying in different directions, her axe bouncing a bit on the grass and the sword slamming blade first into the ground at Gabriel's feet, who jumped back, tripped, and knocked into Milo, knocking him over with a yelp.</p><p>"Weaponless," Hadrian jeered, "what <em>ever</em> will you do now-"</p><p>Jesse moved forward, rushing forward, dropping to all eights, eyes glowing bloody red and the expression in her eyes screaming bloody murder. Everything seemed to go black and white, except for three spots that glowed red- a spot on his wrist, a spot on his neck, and a spot on his chest.</p><p>Jesse lunged to her right and sank her teeth into Hadrian's wrist. As she did so, she felt her canines suddenly unsheath and two actually slightly <em>sickening</em> tastes filled her mouth- the metallic flavor of blood, and a sickeningly sweet taste that Jesse dimly recognized in her mouth.</p><p>Hadrian let out a yell of anger and pain and swung his hand, Jesse's teeth detaching from his wrist as he threw her off, feeling a faint sense of almost brutal <em>pleasure </em>as she saw the two tiny pricked areas streaming blood on his wrist, right on the veins.</p><p>And then she slammed into someone, plowing them both backwards.</p><p>Hadrian was no longer smiling- he was glowering at Jesse as if he'd like to murder her, his bleeding hand gripping a sword tightly and his free one gripping the sword just as tightly, the veins in his hands standing out from how tightly he was clenching it.</p><p>"Did you <em>bite </em>him?" Em asked, sounding almost faintly amused, as everyone raced over to Jesse. Isa's swords were shaking with suppressed rage, as evidenced by her green eyes, which were battling emotions in them so violently Jesse was honestly a little surprised she hadn't exploded by now.</p><p>Jesse didn't respond- just spat. A red substance that Jesse recognized as blood, and then a muddier one, almost purplish, also splattered the ground, making the grass wither slightly where it was on the ground.</p><p>Jace padded over, back in a white t-shirt and white shorts. He looked at Jesse, then back at the floor, and then he sniffed it. "Poison?"</p><p>Everyone's head snapped to look at her, Ivor's brow faintly raised, a faintly amused look in his eyes.</p><p>Even though Jesse knew that he was okay, she was still tense- anyone who poked her would probably get a sharp object in their face. Or their gut. Either worked. "Yes."</p><p>Hadrian started towards Jesse, beginning to build another bridge- everyone prepared to fight him- and then he froze, a confused look mingling with his rage. The hand that was holding an obsidian block, the one with blood streaming through his wrist, was beginning to turn purple.</p><p>At first, Jesse thought it was just because of rage- and then she realized that it was really turning purple, every Hadrian's left wrist and the left side of his body beginning to turn faintly purple, blood starting to leak out of his left eye, which was turning a dull red, and Jesse's breath was hitching because she'd never bitten a <em>human</em> before and she'd never seen the effects of her poison work like this, and every vein in the left side of his body was starting to stand out.</p><p>He slowly released the sword, which clattered into the pit below him, and his hands slowly reached up towards his neck, contorting.. and then he slowly fell backwards, Jesse's back now literally pressing into Ivor's chest, as Ivor's hand clutched her shoulder as she watched, horror beginning to replace her anger.</p><p>And then Hadrian disappeared in a puff of smoke below in the pit.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>originally this chapter was titled poison. that was incorrect because you have to eat poison for it to be poison.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0171"><h2>171. Some Explaining Needs to Be Done</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was an almost tangible silence in the room as everyone stared at where Hadrian had just rather painfully died, his inventory floating on the ground while the gladiators dealt with the two respawned Old Builders.</p><p>Finally, there was the sound of something breaking, and Otto let out a sigh as he stepped out, looking a bit ruffled while Nell came out, blinking and squinting. "Whoa, that's <em>so bright,</em> dude..." she mumbled, blinking in the light.</p><p>Magnus cleared his throat, making everyone look over at the Order of the Stone member. "Great. Everything's all great. Now... does anybody mind explaining what in the name of Notch just happened?"</p><p>Cassie raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms and looking at the huge congregation of people on the grass. "Yeahh, I'd like to know that too..."</p><p>There was a bit of an awkward silence as everyone looked at each other. Well, except for Reuben. He just nudged his way into Jesse's lap, making the spider hybrid's eyes light up happily as she started petting him, making the pig hybrid make a soft squeaking sound in pleasure.</p><p>Finally Soren cleared his throat. "Okay, well... perhaps I should start?"</p><p>"Perhaps you should," Harper said simply, from where she was standing next to Otto's obsidian prison with a pickaxe, which dangled airily at her sides.</p><p>"All right, so this starts back during the hybrid project at the Bureau of Amalgamology," Soren said, leaning back and crossing his arms. "Back when I was still an... 'Old Builder'. Does that name bother anyone else, by the way? Seriously, no dramatic flair at all. Makes us sound like living fossils or something."</p><p>A good deal of the people in the arena, excluding Isa, Cassie, Soren, Harper, and Otto all choked, coughed, or jumped in surprise at the sound of that. "YOU WERE AN OLD BUILDER?!" Ivor finally managed to sputter out, looking utterly shocked.</p><p>"And Isa, and Cassie's aunt. By the way, what happened to Cassandra?" Soren asked Cassie, looking around.</p><p>Cassie's smirk grew masklike, the smile practically melting off her face. Soren spotted the look and his own face fell a bit. "Oh. I'm sorry," he said, in a more hushed voice than usual.</p><p>Cassie made a noncommittal grunt. Soren cleared his throat, looking rather awkward.</p><p>Magnus snorted a little. "Dude, are you scared of a seventeen year old girl?" he asked, arching his eyebrow.</p><p>"Said seventeen-year-old girl has been trained by one of the best axemen ever born and could probably smash your face in if she truly wanted to," Soren said pointedly.</p><p>"Fair enough."</p><p>"Anyway!" Jesse interrupted, barely beating out the Rogue, "so what happened?"</p><p>"Cassandra didn't like what we were doing to Jesse and Jace," he inclined his head at the two hybrids, "so she quit and stormed off about a year or two into the experimentation. Once we'd gotten back to our home base, here," he inclined his head again, "we started playing the games. However, about one year into the games, Hadrian and Mevia..." he paused, as if at a loss for words. "... changed."</p><p>"Changed how?" Ellegaard asked, from where she was sitting next to Magnus.</p><p>Soren grimaced. "They weren't quite as bad as they were just now, but... it was a pretty close contest. Isa left the team in protest then, taking one of the Eversource chickens with her, and then I left. Which left just Harper, Otto, Hadrian, and Mevia on the team."</p><p>"And then I left," Harper said, making a bit of a face.</p><p>"Ah, yes, I remember that rather vividly- you shouted us all down, including Slab and Emily here, and then ran out the door holding the Redstone Heart," Otto said, looking faintly amused.</p><p>"Did I really? I forgot the details," Harper said, her cheeks rather noticeably red. Ivor chuckled, covering his mouth a bit to hide the fact he was doing it.</p><p>Soren chuckled lightly. "Ah, yes... but that explains how I know Isa and Cassie. The whole story is far too long-"</p><p>"Summarize, Soren, summarize," Isa said from where she was standing next to Reginald, who was guarding the Eversource. Milo had gone back to examining the obsidian, but you could see from the way he kept looking 'round at them that he was pretty curious as well.</p><p>Soren rubbed the back of his head, making his already unruly ginger hair ruffle up even more. "All right. I was invited back as a member of the Order of the Stone, we did a lot of stuff AS said Order of the Stone, then the hybrids escaped," Soren was counting off on his fingers, "then Jesse reunited the Order and defeated the Witherstorm, and then they disappeared for four months-"</p><p>"Oh, we've been gone that long?" Jesse asked in surprise, blinking at the architect.</p><p>Soren winced at the looks the three hybrids and Ivor were giving him. "... yeeeeeees. Well, back to the summary, I spotted Mevia kidnapping Axel and Olivia and taking some DNA from Reuben-" Reuben snuggled contentedly into Jesse's lap. "- I rallied up my old teammates, we went to the old temple, met Isa on the way, brought her and some other people with us, and then ran all the way here, where we found Jesse in the middle of a fight with Mevia."</p><p>"Way to summarize," Gabriel said, looking a bit overwhelmed at the amount of information Soren had just overloaded them with.</p><p>"Indeed," Ivor agreed drily.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes. "Be more dry Dad, you still haven't achieved desert-level."</p><p>Ellegaard bolted to her feet, almost tripping over Magnus, who'd also bolted upright. "<em>Dad?!</em>" they sputtered, almost simultaneously. Not that they were the only shocked ones- Gabriel was wordlessly mouthing at Jesse, while the others were staring at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse blinked from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Oh... yeah, I never mentioned it to you guys, did I..."</p><p>"Well, at least it's accurate," Isa said with a straight face. Actually, it was so obvious that she was keeping a straight face that they all were pretty sure she was trying to repress a smile.</p><p>"So what now?"</p><p>Everyone looked at Petra. The Blaze hybrid blushed a bit at the questioning looks. "I mean, what do we do with Hadrian and Mevia? What do we do after this in general?" she asked, crossing her arms with a faintly defensive air.</p><p>"I actually have a suggestion for what we could do with Hadrian and Mevia," Jesse spoke up, raising one hand while the other ones cuddled Reuben, who looked ridiculously pleased from where he was nestled in Jesse's hug. "Olivia and I used to play a game back in our treehouse."</p><p>Olivia looked confused, before her pink eyes almost seemed to spark, a smirk coming over her face. "Would you rather," she and Jesse chorused, mischievous grins on their faces.</p><p>Ivor blinked from where he was sitting. "... I have a feeling I'm missing out on friendly history here, but I am not going to ask. So what are we going to do in general?"</p><p>Soren absentmindedly twirled his beard around his finger, staring at the sky. "You know... I've been wanting to go through the portal networks again for a while. Perhaps I could label them? I've been wanting to visit places without having to rely on memory..."</p><p>"That sounds interesting," Cassie agreed, perking up a little bit for the first time since the mention of her aunt.</p><p>"I must agree with that," Ivor agreed mildly.</p><p>"Well, all of these ideas sound pretty good," Lukas spoke up, everyone looking at the ocelot hybrid (and most of them doing a facepalm when they realized he was lying down on one side of Jesse, who was petting him, along with Jace, who was on the other side). "But first...</p><p>"Let's go home."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0172"><h2>172. Forgiven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hadrian sighed as he looked around the landscape. "Well, Mevia, in an unfortunate turn of events, it looks like we are indeed stuck in the land of chickens that are the size of zombies."</p><p>To punctuate his point, he ducked down rather violently as a huge fowl went flying over his head, clucking loudly.</p><p>"Yes, Hadrian, and it looks like we're just going to... have to... wing it," Mevia said loudly over the clucks of multiple, very large chickens, giving her cohort a nervous laugh, "get it? Wing it?"</p><p>Hadrian was silent for a moment, before he shot the cyan-haired woman a look. "You're fired, Mevia. You're fired."</p><p>About fifty feet away, Jesse watched the two Old Builders with Harper, standing just in front of the exit portal. Harper looked over at the spider hybrid, who looked far too amused. "You know we're going to have to take them out eventually so we can keep an eye on them, you know..."</p><p>Jesse was silent for a moment, before turning and walking through the portal. "We'll burn down that bridge when it comes to it."</p><hr/><p>Jesse sat in the dorms. The others needed to prepare some things before they could send the people who wanted to go home home, and before they themselves would go home. Which meant that Soren, Isa, Harper and Otto would be having a conference. Which the other non-Old-Builders were not invited to.</p><p>A little pink head wriggled in under Jesse's crossed arms, and Jesse started for a moment before relaxing upon realizing who it was. "Hi, Reuben."</p><p>The little pink pig hybrid beamed at Jesse, snuggling into her arms again. "Hi, Jesse."</p><p>The two of them sat there, Jesse's arms gently wrapped around him as the two of them sat in a makeshift nest of blankets on the floor. And then Reuben started speaking. "This is probably a little obvious by now, but I remember stuff from my last life."</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes and gave the little pig hybrid's pink hair a vigorous ruffle. "No, ya think, kiddo?"</p><p>Reuben giggled like the little child he now was, before looking up at Jesse, his pale brown eyes going more somber. "You know, you apologized to me back with the Witherstorm."</p><p>Jesse took a minute to process that- and then her heart sank. "Oh." A short silence. "Right."</p><p>Reuben snuggled into Jesse's chest again, his pig ears flopping against her neck. Automatically, Jesse's upper arms reached up and fondled his ears, tousling a bit of his pink hair in her fingers as well. "It's not your fault," Reuben said after a couple minutes.</p><p>Jesse's fingers paused, and she tilted her head so she could see the pig hybrid's face. "What?"</p><p>"It's not your fault, Jesse," Reuben repeated, lifting his face up so he could look at the spider hybrid, "it's the 'Storm's fault."</p><p>"But- but, I let you go-"</p><p>"Right, because the Witherstorm decided I was a lovely thing to play Tug-of-War with," Reuben reminded her calmly, and <em>how</em> could he be so calm, <em>how</em> could her little Reuben be so calm and matter of fact about talking about his own death?</p><p>Why was it that a nine-or-ten-year-old-child was more mature than Jesse?</p><p>He'd always been an intelligent little one...</p><p>Reuben butted his head into her chest, making her realize that she'd been sitting utterly still for a minute or so now. "Hey-y, I still exist," he teased, pouting a bit playfully at Jesse.</p><p>Jesse chuckled and ruffled a hand through his hair, making him giggle again, "Yes. Yes you do." And she meant to say it jokingly, but suddenly her throat caught and she drew the little pig hybrid into a warm hug, nose buried in the crook of his neck and wet eyes hidden in his pink hair, fingers fondling his pink hair.</p><p>Reuben stayed there, his own arms going around Jesse in a tight hug of his own, not complaining when she hugged him too tightly for it to be normal.</p><hr/><p>Jesse emerged from the dormitory a minute later- and crashed into someone. Rebounding, her lower arms flicked out and caught her in an awkward crab-walk position, upper arms still wrapped around Reuben.</p><p>Aiden was rubbing his nose from where her forehead had collided with it, but a sheepish look crossed his face as he realized who he'd just literally run into. "Oh. Hi, Jesse."</p><p>"Hi," Jesse said, flipping herself back upright, Reuben still snuggled in her grip snugly, "What's up?"</p><p>Aiden rubbed the back of his head, an awkward look on his face. "Oh. Um... nothing."</p><p>Jesse arched her eyebrow, one of her lower hands going on her hips as Reuben sat in Jesse's grip serenely. "That's a pretty loaded face for 'nothing'," she said, teasingly.</p><p>Aiden winced again, and looked at the ceiling as if it were the most <em>fascinating</em> thing he'd ever seen. "Oh, right, um, well... why did you save me?"</p><p>"'Scuse me?"</p><p>Aiden's face went bright red; he looked rather mortified by now. "Um.. back on Sky City, when I tried to..." Cue clearing of the throat. "You know." Another clearing of the throat. "Kill you."</p><p>Reuben bolted upright in Jesse's arms, almost making the spider hybrid drop the pig-hybrid on the floor. "Oh! Oh right. Well..." Jesse blinked, thinking about it. "Well... I have a tendency to feel bad for someone who's trying to kill me." She tilted her head at him for a moment. "... I guess I didn't think you're that bad."</p><p>"Oh." Aiden looked at his feet, his cheeks a rather bright shade of red. "Well... thank you."</p><p>"No problem. Is that all you needed?" Jesse asked, readjusting Reuben.</p><p>"No, actually I wanted to know, where's Cassie?" His face seemed to go a little pinker as he asked.</p><p>Jesse blinked.</p><p>Aiden and... Cassie?</p><p>Huh.</p><p>"Um, I think she went to the dorm down the hall? I'm heading that way, actually, wanna come with me?" And she smiled at Aiden.</p><p>"Sure," Aiden said, crossing his arms and looking away awkwardly.</p><p>Jesse refrained from singing 'Aiden and Cassie, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G' because she was a mature, responsible almost young-adult.</p><p>Sort of.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0173"><h2>173. Teasing (So Much Teasing)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cassie was playing with Winslow and talking to Olivia.</p><p>Jesse had been right; the two of them DID get along well.</p><p>"Wow, some of those traps sound pretty cool," Olivia said, bleeping around the room as Axel chased her- Cassie was <em>ninety-nine</em> percent sure that they were playing Tag or something. Lukas was communing with Winslow sleepily from where he was lying on the floor and Petra was playing fetch with Jace, who was running between playing fetch with Petra and tug-of-war with Nell. He'd pout when Em helped Nell out and the two of them managed to yank the wolf-hybrid onto the floor. Jesse had gone off by herself for a bit.</p><p>"I guess so," Cassie said, looking at her hands. She was half expecting to see them covered in blood or something. "I just wish I hadn't used them for... well, what I used them for."</p><p>Olivia shrugged. "Well... past is the past and all that." She bleeped out of sight in a spray of pink sparks as Axel made a desperate swipe, missed, overbalanced and flopped onto his stomach rather painfully.</p><p>The door opened, and Cassie looked up to see Jesse hugging the pig hybrid- Reuben, right?- and a boy with dark brown hair tagging along with a timid look in his celery-green eyes- Aiden... she was pretty sure, anyway.</p><p>There was a loud hiss, and Cassie looked back to see Lukas on top of a bookshelf, hissing at the dark-haired boy, who sheepishly grinned back and subtly stepped back a bit, eyeing Lukas's claws.</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes with a laugh and, setting Reuben on the floor, followed him to the top of the bookshelf and tugged him back to the floor. "All right, c'mon Cat-boy, back to the ground with the mere mortals."</p><p>"More than half the people in the room are hybrids," Lukas pointed out, shooting Aiden a look and making Aiden edge back into the doorway. He looked like he was about to leave.</p><p>"True, but the rest of them are mortals. I think, anyway."</p><p>Em let out a bark of laughter at this, and Nell covered her mouth with an amused snort. Jesse gave them a grin as the two of them came back down, before looking around. "Aiden, where are Maya and Gill?"</p><p>Aiden jumped about two feet into the air when Jesse mildly addressed him, her twin brother bounding over to her and flopping over onto his back. Rolling her eyes with a slight smile, she leaned down and rubbed his stomach, making the wolf hybrid's tail swish happily and so violently it nearly smacked Jesse over. "Oh... um... th-they opted to go make out in a broom closet or something."</p><p>"Wha- they're dating?" Lukas asked, his blue green eyes blinking in surprise.</p><p>"Finally," Aiden responded.</p><p>"I know right," and for a moment the tension was gone as Lukas and Aiden chuckled together, a bit warily, before Lukas looked away awkwardly and Aiden cleared his throat, looking at the floor.</p><p>Cassie pushed herself to her feet, Winslow clinging to her sleeve as she did so, and she extended her hand- the one which Winslow was not hanging off of, anyway. "Well, nice to meet you... Aiden, right? I'm Cassie." And she smiled at him, feeling a faint pink come into her cheeks.</p><p>Aiden reached out and shook Cassie's hand, a small smile coming over his face. "Well, pleasure to meet you, Cassie."</p><p>"Aiden and Cassie, sittin' in a tree," Axel said suddenly and rather loudly, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"</p><p>Immediately both of their faces went bright pink, and they both let go of each other's hands as if they'd just gotten burned. "We- we barely know each other!" Aiden sputtered, looking utterly mortified.</p><p>"W-we met like twenty seconds ago!" Cassie agreed, as Winslow actually sniggered. Betrayal!</p><p>"Hey, if you get to antagonize Ivor about his crush, I don't see why Axel doesn't get to antagonize you about yours," Jesse said mildly, still rubbing her brother's stomach... and now petting Lukas. "Do you two only like me for my petting skills?" she asked, sounding jokingly frustrated.</p><p>"Yes," Lukas and Jace chorused.</p><p>"... I had that comin', didn't I," Jesse chuckled, Reuben giggling cheerfully in Jesse's lap.</p><p>Now Cassie and Aiden were the color of tomatoes, and both were looking in the opposite direction as Winslow continued sniggering. Suddenly, he moved, and Cassie's gaze automatically moved to follow her cat-</p><p>Winslow yanked Aiden over by the sleeve of his shirt over to Cassie's side, and then snagged his claws on both of their jackets and made himself comfortable.</p><p>Cassie didn't dare look at everyone else- they all were giggling at the situation. "I-it's not funny..." she mumbled, feeling her cheeks go even redder, as the giggles amplified into laughter, and Aiden stared aimlessly at the ceiling.</p><p>From outside the door, Magnus was laughing silently, hand covering his mouth as he shook with mirth. Ellegaard rolled her eyes at the Rogue. "You are less mature than a six-month old child."</p><p>"And you, Ellie, are way too mature," Magnus whispered back, still trying not to laugh. Ellegaard huffed and rolled her eyes again, barely able to hide a smirk that was threatening to make its way across her face.</p><p>Gabriel shook his head at the two Order of the Stone members and looked back to Ivor. "Ivor, should we have them come with us right now? I think the... er... Old Builders are almost done."</p><p>Ivor regarded the laughing (and blushing) teenagers with a look that Gabriel couldn't place. It was almost... nostalgic. "... perhaps in a minute. After all we've been through... they deserve a break."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0174"><h2>174. Going Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"G'bye Jesse!" called one of the yellow contestants, waving to Jesse furiously, "goodbye! Thank you!"</p><p>And she strolled into her portal.</p><p>Harper looked at Otto, one hand on her hip while the others congregated by the staircase. "That all of them?"</p><p>"Everyone that WANTS to go home, anyhow. Except you folks, that is." And he turned to look at their group with a smile.</p><p>Reuben was holding one of Jesse's lower hands and beaming as he watched Olivia bleep around the hallway, sending pink and purple sparks flying everywhere with each change of place. Axel was sorting through his (very unorganized) inventory while Petra teased Lukas with a light on the floor, to Jace's amusement (he was trying to keep a straight face but was betrayed by his furiously wagging tail). Soren and Isa were having a very animated chat, which Milo kept interjecting in, to Isa's faint annoyance (but not that much anyway, because she had the tiniest smile on her face). Reginald was doing his best to keep Benedict from running away, and also to keep Winslow at bay. Cassie would've had that job, except for the fact she was talking to Aiden animatedly, the two of them resolutely ignoring the giggles and teasing looks that were shot their way. Maya and Gill kind of lurked at the edges of the gathering, watching with faintly amused looks as Magnus and Ellegaard were having a heated debate about some stupid thing. Gabriel was trying very hard not to outright laugh at them, and Ivor was sorting through his potions and glancing up every couple of seconds to sneak a glance at Harper. Em was fidgeting quietly and watching the whole group with a both amused and torn look on her face.</p><p>"Can't believe how many competitors actually want to stay and keep playing the games," Otto continued, as Lukas tried to pounce on yet another light.</p><p>He turned and smiled at Jesse. "Thanks to you, my intrepid new friend, I can actually work on making them FUN again," and he let out a little chuckle at this.</p><p>Jesse gave a dry smile back, one hand on her hip. "Promise they'll <em>stay</em> fun this time?" she asked, faintly sardonically.</p><p>"Oh yes," Otto said immediately with a nod, making a worried knot in Jesse's stomach dissolve, "I don't intend to let the games get corrupted like they did before."</p><p>"And I'm gonna help too," Slab said from where he was lurking in the doorway, walking over to Jesse and giving her a pat on the back. At least he didn't knock her into the floor, right? "You taught me a lot about fairness, Jesse, and I'd like to use that new knowledge for something good."</p><p>And then his eyes lit up, and he reached into his pocket. "Oh yeah- speaking of fairness," and he turned around to Lukas, who looked up from where he was racing around on the floor, momentarily diverted from his task, "I think this is yours." And he held out the journal Lukas had been writing in.</p><p>Lukas's blue-green eyes lit up like lanterns, and he got back to his feet, accepting the small brown book from the gladiator. "Oh man!" he said, a grin threatening to split his face open as Petra made the light on the floor vanish neatly with a click of her fingers.</p><p>"There was some really good stuff in there," Slab said, patting Lukas on the back and making the blonde ocelot hybrid's knees buckle a bit. "I was really moved."</p><p>Lukas grinned up at Slab once he'd regained his balance. "Fantastic!" he said, flipping through the journal and starting to scribble.</p><p>Aiden rubbed the back of his sheepishly. "I'd kinda like to read it myself."</p><p>"Oh yeah," Maya said suddenly, making everyone look at the brunette, "Aiden's writing a book of his own. You know, we- we have a lot of free time... in jail..."</p><p>Axel made a snorting sound that he quickly disguised as a cough.</p><p>"It's really good... well I think at least," Gill said, raising his hand.</p><p>"No, no, I like it too," Reginald said vaguely, still keeping ahold of Benedict so she didn't flap off.</p><p>Aiden's face went pink, and he looked down at the floor. Cassie patted him gently on the shoulder, a small smile coming across her lips. "Well... I wouldn't mind giving it a read, too."</p><p>His face went even pinker, and he looked at the floor as if it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen, trying his best to mute the giggles at his now rather pink face.</p><p>"Well, Em?" Jesse asked the burly girl, who looked vaguely uncomfortable, "you said you wanted to go home, right?"</p><p>"Yes... I just can't decide if that's what I want. You get to leave, go on more adventures..." Em sighed and crossed her arms. "... do I really wanna go back to farming?"</p><p>Jesse rolled her eyes and gently punched Em on the shoulder. "Well, if I ever need you, I'll just use the Atlas. Besides, I'm sure you're just getting cold feet now that you actually can go home. You said it's all you <em>wanted</em> in life, remember?"</p><p>Em brightened up, spreading her arms. "Yeah... yeah! You're right. I'll be able to see my old friends again... maybe we can have our own, y'know, Order of the Stone..."</p><p>"Yeah! And you can have your own adventures!" Jesse said, cheerfully, Reuben letting out a cheerful squeak to punctuate the older girl's point.</p><p>"Thanks, Jesse," Em said, a small smile coming over her face, "I needed that." And she strolled off toward the portal.</p><p>Soren, Isa, and Otto were deep in discussion about how when they could get time, they were going to reconvene in the hallway with signs, paint, the Atlas ("Of course, I'm sure Jesse will want to tag along for this," Soren mused), but Jesse spotted Ivor standing nearby, looking off into the hallway.</p><p>Trotting over, she said, picking Reuben up and holding him like a sack of potatoes under her lowest arm, making the little pig hybrid squeal cheerfully, "Hey Dad!"</p><p>"Oh, hello!" Ivor said, dark blue eyes snapping over so he could look at Jesse as Cassie and Jace came over, Aiden having a very awkward conversation with Reginald. "Whatcha doing, Ivor?" Jace asked, tail wagging rhythmically.</p><p>"I was just observing Harper all by herself over there," Ivor said, a bit evasively. Jesse clapped her adoptive father on the back, making him blink at her and her slightly teasing smile. "C'mon, dad, let's go say good bye for now."</p><p>"Yeah, Harper has to go back to Crown Mesa for now... but it's common courtesy to say goodbye," Cassie said, Winslow purring from where he was on Cassie's shoulder and Jace eyeing him, "especially to your crush~"</p><p>Ivor's face went a bit pink. "... shut up."</p><p>"Hey Harper!" Jesse called, carrying Reuben over, while Cassie and Jace and Ivor came over a little ways behind her.</p><p>Harper turned, blinking at Jesse, before smiling at them. "Oh, hey Jesse, Ivor, I was just watching folks head on home. Funny how things worked out, huh?" She hesitated, before glancing away. "Well, I guess this is goodbye..."</p><p>"You act like we're not going to see you soon," Jesse said teasingly, making Harper chuckle a little. "True. The citizens of Crown Mesa are going to need a lot of help rebuilding, but I'm sure I'll be able to make time to meet up with you."</p><p>Jace elbowed Ivor, who gave the wolf hybrid a confused look. Jace looked at Harper, then back at Ivor, then wiggled his eyebrows.</p><p>Ivor scowled at him slightly.</p><p>"Hey Harper, Ivor has a crush on you!" Cassie said suddenly and quickly, so that Ivor had no time and slapped his hand over her mouth a fraction of a second too late. Winslow sniggered as Jesse, Reuben and Jace did their best to stifle a deluge of giggles.</p><p>Harper's face reddened slightly, as did Ivor's. The two of them stood there awkwardly, before Ivor's head whipped around and he shouted down the hallway, "Hey, Aiden or whatever the heck your name is! Cassie has a crush on you!"</p><p>Now Jesse, Reuben and Jace were laughing so hard that Reuben was snorting slightly, Jesse's face was buried in her hands, and in a last-ditch sort of effort Jace was covering his face with his tail as he let out little howls and yelps of laughter, trying to stop. The sight of the three of them in stitches made some of the other teenagers snigger and the adults roll their eyes with a grin. Cassie and Aiden were not doing either, but instead trying to cover their fire-engine red faces and ignore the sniggers of their friends.</p><p>"Ivor, you are a strange, strange man," Harper said, sounding faintly amused and very embarrassed, before stepping closer to him. "But... you're okay."</p><p>And then she gave him a kiss on the cheek, making red pump through the pale man's face.</p><p>"That's the second time now," Jace said through his very acute giggles.</p><p>"Is it really?" Jesse said, now starting to hiccup from how hard she'd been laughing.</p><p>"Yeah, they did it a couple nights back."</p><p>"You saw that?" Ivor asked, his face going even redder, although this time it was from embarrassment.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm nocturnal."</p><p>Now Ivor was so red he could've been mistaken for a tomato, his hands dropping from Cassie's face and covering his own up in an attempt to hide it.</p><p>"Okay, okay, okay," Jesse managed through severe giggles, as Isa wandered over to a portal with a swirling blue substance inside it and waited for Reginald, Milo, and the Blaze Rods to catch up, "Well, we should probably head home, huh?"</p><p>"Yes, the Atlas belongs to Jesse now- deal's a deal and all that," Otto said, handing her the golden book with a grin. "Now you just say where you want to go, and the Atlas will show you the way."</p><p>Jesse looked at the glowing book in her hands, the gold glow pulsing and illuminating her face, then back up. Everyone stared at her expectantly.</p><p>"Well, I guess we'll all be seeing each other soon," and she looked back down at the book with a smile. "Okay, book... take us home."</p><p>She opened the book.</p><p>Runes, words, symbols floated off the pages, rising into the air in a glowing column, and her eyes widened as the swirling column of words rose into the air, sweeping down the hallway, made a sharp right at where Isa was standing, and flowed into a portal made of wood blocks, a terracotta color illuminating the hallway immediately in front of it.</p><p>"There it is," Jesse said, rushing over with everyone else, big grins on all of their faces.</p><p>"Home," Olivia finished the statement.</p><p>Jesse turned to look over her shoulder again at all the friends she'd made. Strange to think how long she'd been away, and how soon she'd be home.</p><p>"See you all soon, my friends!" And Soren charged through with a laugh, Gabriel following and dragging Magnus and Ellegaard along, Ivor letting out a little laugh as his potion bag bounced at his side, Olivia bleeping right in front of the portal and charging in, Axel bulldozing the way as Petra flew in, Lukas and Winslow racing in as Cassie chased after the two cats with a chuckle. Jace, Jesse, and Reuben all shared an excited grin, before turning and following their friends back home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0175"><h2>175. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jesse hugged her knees to her chest from where she was sitting beside the window seat, staring up at the stars that dotted the sky.</p><p>Cassie moving in hadn't been too much of a trouble- the trouble mostly came from finding a room that wasn't blown halfway to smithereens. Which was... surprisingly more difficult than you might imagine. Jace had insisted on rooming with either the 'kitty hybrid' (Soren did a spit-take when he heard that nickname), the fire girl (Gabriel had done his best not to smirk) or his sister.</p><p>Needless to say, he got his twin sister.</p><p>A little head nudged its way into her lap, and she started before spotting the floppy pig ears. "Oh. Reuben," Jesse said, softly, reaching up and fondling his ears again with a soft smile. "Couldn't sleep?"</p><p>Reuben shook his head and snuggled into Jesse's grip, letting out a little squeak of happiness as she put her arms around him in a warm hug. "It's funny to think we used to start out in a tree house," Jesse murmured, hugging her little pig hybrid to her tight, "and now we've- been to some of the weirdest places in the world."</p><p>"And out of it."</p><p>Jesse looked over. She wasn't entirely surprised to see her twin brother padding over and plopping himself into the seat next to his sister, snuggling up next to her. "Yes, and out of it," she agreed, smiling slightly at him.</p><p>She hadn't realized how much she'd missed him until she'd realized he'd been gone.</p><p>"Make room, please," and a blonde-haired head popped its way over the edge, ocelot ears twitching.</p><p>"Oh!" Jace blinked, scooting sideways and letting Lukas clamber in next to him, squishing the wolf hybrid against the window slightly. "You're up?"</p><p>"Yeah, can't sleep for some reason," and Lukas yawned, so hard that he brought a couple of tears into his eyes. "Why are you guys up?" he mused, when he'd recovered from the incredibly loud yawn.</p><p>"We're nocturnal," the spider and wolf hybrid spoke simultaneously. Lukas shook his head in amusement as Reuben said, head snuggled into Jesse's chest, "I couldn't sleep."</p><p>"None of us can with all your jabbering," Petra crabbed playfully, elbowing her way into the group sitting in the window seat. Jesse scooted aside to make room for the Blaze hybrid, feeling the comfortable warmth seep into her right side and the coolness of the night seeping in through the window on her left.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry," Lukas teased back, tail flicking and thumping Jace on the back, "shall we all be quiet then, your highness?"</p><p>"That would be lovely, thank you," Petra said, in her most formal, snooty-sounding British accent, and it was all Jesse could do to not snort and wake everyone else up.</p><p>Olivia bleeped into existence and squeezed her way into the pile, Petra scooting a bit so that now Jesse's entire left side was pressed up against the glass of the window so that the Enderman hybrid could perch on the seat. "Couldn't sleep for some reason," Olivia whispered, pinkish-purple and dark black eye blinking. The pink-purple eye glowed in the darkness.</p><p>"Funny, neither could we," Petra agreed.</p><p>"What are you all doing?"</p><p>Everyone's head rotated to see Axel sneaking into the room, as quiet as he could. The floorboards creaked a bit, and his voice hadn't been as low as theirs, but on the whole it was pretty darn quiet.</p><p>"Just kind of sitting here," Jesse said, her head turning so she was looking back out at the sky and the twinkling stars that studded it. Jace leaned forward to look at them as well, tilting his head up so he could look at it, all of them looking at the endless starry night sky, the endless sky that was almost synonymous with their endless opportunities. They would have days and weeks and months and <em>years</em> to do this, to do anything they really wanted to put their minds to.</p><p>But for now, they were all content to sit and muse and wonder about the unforeseeable future.</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Nothing built can last forever, and every legend, no matter how great, fades with time. With each year, more and more details are lost, until all that remains are myths- half truths.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>To put it simply, lies.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And yet, in all the known universe, from here in this timeless place to the distant and chaotic Far Lands, from the sandy deserts of Crown Mesa to the high reaches of Sky City, from a world filled with the most plebeian creatures to the most difficult Games, the legend of the ORDER OF THE STONE endures, unabridged, as self-evident fact.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Indeed, it is only troubled lands that have need for heroes; and we are so very lucky to have, not so very long ago, FIVE heroes such as these.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>PETRA the Blaze hybrid, whose quick blade and even quicker flames lit the way to victory in many a battle, even if her quick temper did occasionally spawn one of said battles.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>OLIVIA the Enderman hybrid, an extraordinary redstone engineer that sparked creations and a creature of the End, where so very long ago, the mysterious Ender Dragon dwelled.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>AXEL the creeper hybrid, whose destructive nature and creativity benefited us all, and whose goofy, playful nature always made him a new friend.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>LUKAS the ocelot hybrid, whose sharp claws and even sharper mind took them to great lengths, and whose loyalty and kindness never wavered even in the most dire of situations.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And JESSE the spider hybrid, who was willing to lend any of her six hands to anyone who was in danger, an amazing multitasker and friend, and leader of the Order of the Stone.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Others have created this path for our heroes to follow. The original Order of the Stone, the Old Builders. These five friends have made so many more friends in their journeys across the worlds to fulfill their numerous quests, so many new allies and new enemies, deaths and rebirths, memories lost, and found, and rediscovered.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Their greatest quests have all been written in a book that remains in the Order of the Stone's treasure room, in a distant file in a former Bureau of Amalgamology scientist's computer, and have been listed down. So many enemies have been defeated, and so many have been made a friend.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>These FIVE friends have given so much to gain their rightful place as FIVE heroes, and to prove to everyone that what Gabriel the Warrior once said is, in fact, true.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Anyone can be a hero.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Even a <strong>hybrid.</strong></em>
</p><p>...</p><p>
  <em>But when one story ends, another one begins.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0176"><h2>176. Log 2-1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I always liked stories where the hero has no idea that they're destined for greatness. The sort of heroes who are living their lives, and assume that nothing exciting will ever happen to them."</p><p>
  <em>Jesse knelt down, grinning at Reuben gently. "Give me a dragon roar, Reuben," she coaxed, somewhat playfully as she reached out and patted the Ender Dragon head, the pig's back, ignoring the way that the wings bumped into her hands and kept her from actually making much contact with him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The pig let out a loud screeching oink, making her laugh a bit. "That'll do, Reuben. That'll do."</em>
</p><p>"Those are the kind of heroes in this story. They started as just a bunch of friends in a treehouse, looking up to their idols who had come before them."</p><p>
  <em>"Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies," Olivia turned around, giving Jesse a lopsided grin- especially since her right eye was brighter than the other, "or ten zombie-sized chickens."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes, I'm ready." Axel shook his head a bit at Olivia's nitpickiness, rubbing his arm a bit. "Waiting on you guys!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hey, Jesse. Guys," Petra nodded a bit, pickaxe resting neatly on her shoulder and a cool grin on her face. Her usual sleeve-glove-thing covered her left arm, as usual, and her gold eyes glinted a bit.</em>
</p><p><em>Lukas rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, hair twitching infinitesimally. "No hard feelings, guys," he said, pleasantly enough. "If you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us.</em>"</p><p>"But when disaster struck, and an evil monstrosity threatened to destroy the world, those friends discovered that destiny had bigger plans for them. And that heroes can come from the most humble of beginnings."</p><p>
  <em>Jesse increased her speed, now full-out sprinting for the gate, but it looked like she wasn't going to make it. Her foot suddenly caught, and she tripped forward-</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her six arms lashing out automatically and stopping her faceplanting into the stone path.</em>
</p><p>"They travelled the world to battle that monster, facing obstacles and sacrifices every step of the way."</p><p>
  <em>Jesse whipped off the cloak, red eye flashing as string shot out of her hands and tagged the TNT flying at her from the cannon. Desperately, she thrashed it away from herself, before detaching the string and lunging for the next one.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid handed the cloak over to Soren, narrowing her eyes at the Endermen peppering Wool World. Abruptly, her torso snapped forward, her hands slamming into the ground as her lower body- namely, her legs- rotated 180 degrees so it looked like that part of her body was doing a crab walk. Her lowermost set of arms also rotated, fangs shooting out of her mouth and eyes turning bright red.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jesse's mouth fell open as she stared at the wall towering above her, holes and caves and strange, hovering chunks of land composing the entire thing. Waterfalls poured everywhere, and the wall towered up and up and up until they disappeared through the clouds altogether.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The spider hybrid leaped into the air, enchanted sword flashing with a miasma of color as it plunged down at the Command Block, eyes glowing bloodred as she did so.</em>
</p><p>"It wasn't easy, but they had each other. And working together, they struck it down and saved everyone."</p><p>
  <em>"It's Magnus! We totally got caught by Magnus!" Axel's smile dropped off his face a moment later, and he sheepishly rubbed his head as he reconsidered what he'd just said, as he noticed the spider hybrid glancing over at him with a both deadpan yet slightly anxious expression on her face. "And... I think we're gonna die now."</em>
</p><p><em>"You got me away from the Witherstorm," the Blaze hybrid spoke, her eyes oddly dim, "but I'm worried you didn't get me away soon enough." And she pulled up her sleeve to reveal a nearly </em>silver<em> Blaze Rod, a strange, sickly purple spreading from the center of her arm and infecting her veins, angry red and purple and strange little specks decorating her arm.</em></p><p>
  <em>Lukas shook his head, looking down at the ground uncertainly. "You have to have noticed," he began again, starting to get rather worked up, "the- the lack of energy, the labored breathing... there's something wrong, okay?! Something big. It's not fooling anyone." He paused, shoulders dropping a bit as his eyes narrowed in concern. "At least, not me."</em>
</p><p><em>"How are we supposed to do this?" Olivia shook her head, a note of despair creeping into her voice as she shook her head. Her glowing, purple eye dimmed, especially noticeable with the literally ink-black skin around that eye. "We're </em>nobody<em>."</em></p><p>
  <em>Jesse raised one of her upper arms into the air and pumped it in a cheering motion, a grin coming over her face. "For Reuben!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A resounding ROAR of cheering rose from the crowd, making Jesse wince and step back a bit with a small grin.</em>
</p><p>"Soon, they were the most famous people in the whole world. And their legend..."</p><p>"<em>I suppose I still have much to learn," Milo mused, the blonde innkeeper giving Jesse a weak, slightly grudging smile, "Thank you, Jesse."</em></p><p>
  <em>"I don't understand yet," Isa said simply, brushing back a lock of her black hair that was held back with the golden circlet that marked her as the Founder, "but... I trust you."</em>
</p><p>"Their fame..."</p><p><em>"I don't want to forget anyone ever again," Jesse said softly, so quietly that she was almost perfectly inaudible. "I'm not forgetting </em>you<em> again."</em></p><p>
  <em>Cassie was frozen in Jesse's hug for a moment, before she squeezed her eyes shut and forced tears to trickle out of her eyes, the two girls slowly sinking to the ground in a tight hug.</em>
</p><p>"Just continued to grow as they explored <em>more</em> worlds..."</p><p><em>"Okay, eyes, not red, </em>not<em> red... well, except-" Harper suddenly paused, blinking a few times before walking up to Jesse and leaning forward so that she was right up in Jesse's face, enough that the spider hybrid automatically leaned back a bit warily. The woman froze there for a moment, before stepping back and giving Jesse an uncertain, confused look.</em></p><p>
  <em>"... Jesse?"</em>
</p><p>"Venturing into the great unknown."</p><p>
  <em>Jesse froze in place, eyes widening.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Standing not too far away was a boy with chocolate-brown hair, a pair of brown wolf ears... and Jesse's green eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And in the final cage in the room made of obsidian... a boy with red hair. Pale brown eyes that were filled with life. Cute little pig ears resting in his hair.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Reuben?"</em>
</p><p>"And that's- sorry, Axel, am I boring you?" Lukas suddenly cut off in reading his manuscript, shooting Axel a slightly joking glare.</p><p>Jesse, who had been quietly muffling laughter for the past ten minutes while Lukas read the book and eyeing Axel while his head lolled back a little in his sleep, burst into fits of laughter and fell off the stair she was sitting on, her lower arms snapping out to catch her.</p><p>Axel startled awake with a snort, the creeper hybrid's pupils dilating wildly between almost taking up the whites of his eyes to just a little too big as he hastily adjusted his rumpled flannel. "Huh-what-wait-hunh?" he said a little too quickly, trying to pretend he'd been awake.</p><p>Olivia rolled her eyes with a grin, the purple one looking a little sickening from how the pinker iris slid around the eye. In recent years she'd let her hair grow out into curly waves. Sometimes she'd put them in a ponytail. "Look, I knew you did this at the library when we were kids, but I thought hearing about yourself would be fun-"</p><p>"It <em>is,</em> I was just resting my eyes for a moment-"</p><p>"I mean, you were also kinda snoring, Axel," Jace replied, adjusting Reuben's t-shirt for him.</p><p>(<em>The pig hybrid squirmed; he hated when any of them treated him like a kid.</em></p><p><em>Even though he </em>was <em>a kid.</em>)</p><p>"Was <em>not</em>-"</p><p>"Was too."</p><p>"You really were, Axel," Cassie muttered from where she was sitting on the stairs, somewhat near Jace and Jesse. Those two, for some reason, were very chill with her (<em>despite what she had done</em>) and never flinched when she spoke.</p><p>Speaking of which, here came Lukas's flinch, but he disguised it and narrowed his eyes at Axel, ears flicking. "Look, I get that my writing's boring, but ya don't have to fall asleep," he scolded, even though his lips were curling up at the ends despite how hard he tried to keep them from doing so.</p><p>Then Olivia snorted and he also broke down into chuckles.</p><p>"I guess it's a good note. Maybe I'm running on for too long in some bits?"</p><p>"You did spend an unnaturally long time on the part where we dismantled the Bureau," Olivia said, after a moment and an encouraging nod from Jesse.</p><p>"And on Harper and Ivor's wedding," Jace added, eyes brightening.</p><p>"And on the part where I insisted going to visit Hadrian and Mevia and make sure they weren't killing everything," Jesse pointed out."</p><p>Cassie thought about it, before nodding. "And you were a bit too short on the part where Aiden's been contacting you two repeatedly."</p><p>"Well, I don't ever respond," Lukas muttered, jotting down these notes. "Maybe I'll ask Ivor and Harper's accounts once they get back from their honeymoon... I guess this one needs some more editing."</p><p>Jesse smiled at him. "Well, don't feel so down about it. At least you've got proper feedback and not my three scribbles of 'i like this' in the margins," she grinned.</p><p>He grinned back, before shutting the notebook. "I <em>was</em> hoping to have this done by Founding Day, but... maybe next year."</p><p>"Maybe," Jesse said encouragingly.</p><p>"I liked it!" Reuben said cheerily. "Though I missed a pretty big chunk of it when Jace took me to the bathroom."</p><p>During the 'White Pumpkin' reveal, Jace had casually told Reuben that he needed to use the bathroom, and would Reuben please come with him so he could hurry back? Despite that, they'd managed to miss the White Pumpkin's being revealed (and the chunk where Cassie had, in fact, attempted to also murder Jesse)- at Cassie's request.</p><p>She'd pulled the New Order aside once and pleaded them (<em>pleaded!</em>) to not tell Reuben that she'd been the White Pumpkin- not until she was ready to face it again herself. It had taken some convincing from Jesse, but they'd all reluctantly agreed.</p><p>Despite that, Reuben was now nearly thirteen, and Cassie had still never breathed a word to him about it. Jesse would have to have a word with her, because if Cassie had it her way, she would never be able to face that part of herself again. Cassie couldn't even start to get angry anymore without her starting to sink into a bit of an anxiety attack at herself.</p><p>
  <em>At the possibility that she'd lose control of herself again, at the possibility she'd break again.</em>
</p><p>Jesse hadn't even able to bring her to see Hadrian and Mevia again. Mevia actually had started to begrudgingly like Jesse, weirdly enough, and Hadrian had developed a habit of calling Jesse 'cookie.'</p><p>Due to the fact that Jesse had once made them cookies as a 'housewarming gift', them having built a house in Giant Chicken World, Jesse had the feeling that Hadrian was trying to subliminally hint that he wanted them to bake cookies again.</p><p>Jesse was still trying to decide if she felt up for that.</p><p>The door to the Hall slid open, and Olivia lit up a little bit, adjusting her red lab coat so it was on straight. "Oh! Jesse- your intern."</p><p>Radar walked up to them. Despite being 19 (Jesse had refused him multiple times on the basis that he was just a kid- <em>never mind that she'd been 17 when she'd defeated the Witherstorm-</em> until he'd sent over his resume and Jesse had realized that, no, Radar was technically an adult), the boy still felt like a teenager. H</p><p>e was short (though not shorter than Jesse, to her irritation- why was <em>everyone</em> taller than her?) and thin, wearing a green zippered hoodie over a sweatervest and tie.</p><p>Jace had once speculated that Radar wanted to look professional but also got cold easily, so he'd grabbed a hoodie to wear. He'd tried to hound Radar to show him his closet and choice of clothes so they could go shopping, but Radar had nervously laughed and distracted Jace by throwing a ball down the street.</p><p>"Oh gosh. Wow. I- um- I didn't think you'd all be here," Radar said, a little flush creeping across his cheeks. "Um, Olivia- ma'am. Axel, sir. Lukas, sir. Cassie, ma'am. Jace, sir..."</p><p>Jesse laughed as Reuben squealed and ran over to his 'babysitter' (oftentimes Radar helped keep an eye on Reuben- to the point where they'd started joking that Radar was babysitting the not-technically-a-kid-anymore). "Radar!"</p><p>Radar beamed at him. "Hey- hey, Reuben."</p><p>"Radar, I've told you- you don't have to be so formal around us, remember? Cut it out with all the sir and ma'am stuff,"</p><p>"I kinda liked it," Axel said cheerfully, earning a dig in the ribs from Olivia's elbow even though she was also grinning.</p><p>"Right- right-o," Radar squeaked, before grinning and whispering "awesome" under his breath.</p><p>Cassie nodded, a small smile creeping over her face. She had a bit of a soft spot for the intern and would teach him how to use an axe at every opportunity.</p><p>Radar and Reuben were actually starting to get pretty good with hand-to-hand combat and basic weapon use. "Hey, Ray. How's the planning going?"</p><p>"Pretty good, though all forms for the events are due tonight, so there's gonna be an influx of requests and stuff since a lot of the business owners like to wait until the last second," and Radar allowed his eyes a tiny roll at that.</p><p>Jesse chuckled- Radar was better at organization than she and Cassie were, so having someone around to help her keep stuff in check was always helpful.</p><p>
  <em>Notch knew the others weren't around to do it.</em>
</p><p>She shook off the bitter thought and cracked a small smile at him. "Anyway, what's up, Radar?"</p><p>He cleared his throat, having realized that he'd gotten a bit off track from what he'd probably originally come here for. "Oh, yeah- I got a message from Petra that she's on her way to the mines. You know- for that adventure you scheduled?" Radar asked helpfully.</p><p>Jesse felt more than saw Lukas, Axel, and Olivia stiffen and exchange looks behind her, and her heart sank as she felt the incoming dilemma rushing in. She could practically hear Petra's disappointed voice already.</p><p>
  <em>Oh boy.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0177"><h2>177. See You Later</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Oh, cool," Jesse said cheerfully, trying not to let her voice sound heavy with worry. She was already scrambling to figure out how she was going to explain this to Petra. "We should get going then."</p><p>Over the years, the Hybrid Order had started drifting apart.</p><p>Jesse insisted on sending at least little letters- and Olivia said she was working on something portable that would act as a communicator so that they could talk without necessarily being in person, since they all had schedules- but it was getting to be immensely difficult to keep meeting up without messing up one person or another's schedules.</p><p>They'd had to call off a dozen 'adventures' (even smaller ones) recently, and as much as Petra said that it was fine, maybe next time, Jesse had started sensing something angry seething under the surface.</p><p>She did <em>not</em> want it to explode.</p><p>"Actually- um..." Olivia shifted her weight to her other foot, towering over Axel and Jesse but keeping her eyes averted.</p><p>Jesse sometimes hated that she had a reason to not meet their eyes.</p><p>"We've... actually got our own Founding Day stuff we need to prep for," she said a little weakly.</p><p>Axel nodded, scratching his cheek. "Yeah, there's a TNT Rally Magnus and I need to judge in the morning-"</p><p>"There are some redstone assignments I have to grade-"</p><p>Lukas fiddled with his tail, twisting it in a way that didn't look comfortable. "I did want to get this new draft done-"</p><p>"Guys, you don't have to give me any reasons- if you're busy, you're busy," she said, cheerfully enough, though a part of her was still scrambling to figure out how she was going to explain it to Petra.</p><p>Cassie sighed, making Jesse pause and look over at her. "If she lets me, I'll come with," she grunted.</p><p>Petra was usually a bit leery about letting Cassie come along on adventures, but she did also tend to admit that Cassie could be fairly helpful.</p><p>"I can watch Reuben," Jace volunteered cheerfully, ears twitching.</p><p>Reuben puffed up his cheeks and his chest and tried to make himself look taller. "Don' need a babysitter," he huffed.</p><p>"I know, kiddo, but remember last time you tripped and fell into the cave of monsters? Jesse almost killed me for letting you come along," Jace said cheerfully.</p><p>"Perhaps don't tell that to the teenager," Cassie muttered, but she was smiling at how cheerful Jace looked.</p><p>Reuben frowned, so Jace shrugged. "Why don't we go visit Champion City? It's pretty there. Plus it's not that far away, so we'll be back in time for dinner."</p><p>"... fine..."</p><p>Axel rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Sorry, Jesse. Tell Petra next time for sure."</p><p>"You got it," Jesse said, despite that this was now the sixth time in a row he'd told her to tell Petra this.</p><p>They started heading out of the Hall, Radar bouncing a little on the balls of his feet in excitement. "I can't believe I'm walking out of the Order Hall <em>with the Order- </em>haha!"</p><p>Olivia chuckled and ruffled his hair, while Lukas was musing to himself about what other things he could put in the story. "We could talk about some of the other 'hybrids' that were stuck in the lab... like that llama hybrid girl, I forgot her name..."</p><p>"Oh, remember Spivor?"</p><p>Jesse made a face at Axel's sudden suggestion. "I didn't until you mentioned it just now, thanks a lot," she replied.</p><p>'Spivor', which is what Cassie had dubbed the monstrosity at the lab, was a clone of Ivor that had been injected with spider DNA.</p><p>Unlike Jesse, though, something about the fact that it was a clone seemed to have messed with the DNA, and the spider hybrid had come out, uh...</p><p>A little wonky.</p><p>Just a little bit.</p><p>"Don't mention him ever again, please."</p><p>Cassie cracked a smile at that.</p><p>Radar was humming and scribbling on a clipboard. "So other towns have Founding Day celebrations?"</p><p>"It's less about 'Founding Day' and more 'the day the Witherstorm was defeated'," Olivia mused, "but because Beacontown celebrates it as Founding Day it's started to become more of a trend to say it in cities that were involved with the Witherstorm."</p><p>Reuben gave a disappointed sound. "So Champion City wouldn't celebrate Founding Day..."</p><p>"It's not <em>impossible</em>, but it's not <em>likely</em>," Lukas nodded. "Since Champion City was founded... what, six years ago?"</p><p>"Yeah... shortly after the Bureau was, uh, disbanded."</p><p>Which was to say they'd stormed the building with police and arrested any scientist that resisted or tried to attack them.</p><p>Reuben pouted. "Boo," he muttered grumpily.</p><p>Jace laughed and glanced at Radar. "Ray, blow the whistle I gave you if you need help, okay?"</p><p>They'd found out that Jace could hear dog whistles from fairly far away- certainly within the distance that Champion City was from Beacontown- so he often would take Reuben out for little 'adventures' while Radar handled stuff and come sprinting back when he heard the whistle.</p><p>Radar saluted a little, trying to puff up his chest to look a bit bigger than he actually was. "Yes, sir..."</p><p>"You don't have to call me sir..."</p><p>Jesse reached out with their arms and tugged Axel, Lukas, and Olivia into a hug as Cassie chimed in and tried to keep calling Jace 'sir', which in turn prompted him to halfheartedly bat at her to try to get her to stop.</p><p>Lukas chuckled and patted Jesse's back. "Well, I promise I will try and stop by soon. This has been a lot of fun."</p><p>"Totally. We haven't been able to get together in a while." Axel picked Jesse up off the ground for a moment.</p><p>"Won't be the same without you guys," Jesse said, face half-squished against his chest from the hug.</p><p>Olivia gave a sympathetic sound. "We're sorry, things keep popping up..."</p><p>"Nah, it's okay. I'll let her know," Jesse said cheerfully.</p><p>"Thanks again for the editing help," Lukas said cheerfully, his ear twitching. "I'll let you know soon as I'm done with the revisions."</p><p>Axel cleared his throat, looking up at the sky. "Oh. Uh. That sounds... great."</p><p>"Axel..."</p><p>"I tell ya," Radar said cheerfully as he bid goodbye to Jace and Reuben (who had bounded ahead to "go explore Champion City!") with a wave, "I am just the luckiest."</p><p>Cassie blinked at that as Jesse began descending the stairs, giving him an easy smile. "Yeah?"</p><p>"Getting to work with you, hanging out <em>with the Order</em>, and, living in the coolest town in the world- Beacontown!"</p><p>Jesse grinned as she surveyed the patchwork of explosive color that was her town.</p><p>She'd been voted in as mayor (at first people had insisted that she just go straight into office, but she flat-out refused until she'd been cast in during the voting process- she didn't feel comfortable with just going up to be mayor), or "Hero-in-Residence" of Beacontown.</p><p>At first she'd been pretty loose about letting people build whatever they wanted- though she'd ended up putting a restriction on buildings with huge width and started sectioning off lots to give people. You could build whatever you wanted in the lot, and however tall you wanted to go, but you couldn't stray outside that width.</p><p>Some ended up being longer than others, but that was just the nature of Beacontown.</p><p>Radar kept track of things, and Jesse would step in to help only when things got really prickly- she'd tried to keep track of everything herself, but this had resulted in Cassie once walking in to see if she wanted to go out for dinner at the Japanese place at the far end of Beacontown and Jesse shooting a glob of string at Cassie's face and the two of them then having to spend three hours soaking it off.</p><p>She'd decided she was running herself a little too thin and put out the intern notice, then.</p><p>The entire town- with Ivor and Harper's lab on the main street- was a huge bubbling pot of heritage, creativity, and messing around for fun, and Jesse probably wouldn't have had it any other way.</p><p>Several parrots went flying by Jesse's head; she had to grin.</p><p>Some guy called Jon Stauder had moved in a while back and, uh, <em>accidentally</em> released an army of parrots upon Beacontown. They'd basically taken up residence in the eaves of people's houses.</p><p>Jesse had woken up on multiple occasions with parrot eggs on top of her.</p><p>It had progressively gotten funnier the more it happened.</p><p>"I get that you two like to hang out a lot," Radar said to Cassie, who awkwardly shuffled and averted her eyes to the floor, "but... I'm really glad you're our leader, Jesse. You just... make this place <em>awesome</em>. With Cassie, too."</p><p>Cassie coughed awkwardly.</p><p>To be honest, very few people knew the true identity of the White Pumpkin- Lukas's first book had been a limited-edition sell (there were only 10 copies that existed), and Lukas hadn't written more about it after.</p><p>Petra hadn't been <em>pleased</em> to find out that nobody was talking about Cassie's being a murderer, but she seemed to get that if that was widespread information, Cassie could very well get witch-hunted.</p><p>Which was a sure-fire way to make Jesse upset, which was a sure-fire way to make Jace and the <em>entire</em> Hybrid Order angry, so to avoid situations like that they'd just said that the White Pumpkin wasn't likely to come back (which was true- considering Cassie had something akin to a panic attack every time it was even vaguely brought up) and left it at that.</p><p>"Thanks, Radar," Jesse said sincerely, ruffling his hair, "I really do love this place. And it just keeps getting cooler."</p><p>"Right? It's the kind of home I've always dreamt of," Radar beamed, making Cassie smile and rub his shoulder.</p><p>He regained his composure after a moment, clearing his throat- the 18-year-old tried a lot to act like an adult, but with his voice being so high-pitched, it was a little difficult to see him as more than a kid. "Uh, well, Petra's waiting down in the mines, but-"</p><p>Jace and Reuben were practically a speck in the crowd at this point, Jace narrowly avoiding crashing into someone while yelling something that sounded suspiciously like <em>"Hi</em> <em>Nell!</em>".</p><p>"- I bet some people'd be really grateful if you helped them prepare for Founding Day. There <em>is</em> a lot of prep to be done..."</p><p>Cassie hummed, stretching. "Well, if Jesse's gonna lag behind and help people out, I'm gonna go ahead and keep an eye on them to make sure Jace doesn't eat anything he's not supposed to, the weirdo," she said absently.</p><p>Jesse pretended to scowl at her. "Cassie, only <em>I'm</em> allowed to make fun of my bro," she teased back.</p><p>Cassie's lips quirked up. "Oh? I don't recall that rule."</p><p>And with that, Cassie slipped ahead- avoiding the main road since the few people who <em>did</em> know about her being a White Pumpkin tended to frequent that road, and she was a bit scared to be confronted.</p><p>Jesse watched her go.</p><p>As much as she was still a little wary around Cassie, she was also worried <em>for</em> the girl- Cassie had gotten a lot quieter, a lot more scared sometimes- skittish was probably a good way to describe her.</p><p>She was okay with Jesse, and Jace, since they'd spent so much time together as kids, but her tongue had been tempered somewhat in public (to be fair, this was also to avoid swearing in front of Reuben), and Jesse had spotted her reeling back her anger as desperately as she could on more than one occasion.</p><p>There was a deep, genuine <em>terror</em> that ran under Cassie's skin- terror that she'd slip back into a rampage.</p><p>After the incident...</p><p>Jesse shook her head a little, shaking the thought that had bobbed up to the surface without permission and shoving it back into the murky recesses of her mind.</p><p><em>Not now</em>. She wasn't going to bring that up now.</p><p>Though maybe the only reason she was hesitant to was because of the chills that shot down her own spine whenever she did.</p><p>She took a deep breath and walked down the stairs to go help people.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0178"><h2>178. Familiar Faces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Jesse dude!" Nell was flailing her arms so frantically that Jesse was surprised that the blonde girl hadn't turned into a windmill. She grinned and made her way over to Nell- who seemed to have built a little beach hut-surf shack sort of thing in her plot.</p><p>"Nell!" Jesse grinned and strolled over, Radar trailing behind her almost like her brother when he was younger. "I thought you were out seeing the worlds?"</p><p>Nell grinned, crossing her arms- she still had her old Games uniform on, but had ripped off the sleeves and the leggings to be more of a tank top than a jumpsuit. "<em>Did</em> that! Righteous times! Spotted Jace going by a minute ago with your little pig dude, but he was going at, like, the speed of light."</p><p>Jesse couldn't help but grin at that description.</p><p>"Thought I'd try, like, settling down for a while. Like, I <em>love</em> danger and derring-do as much as the next person, but sometimes, you just wanna have a place to store your junk, okay?"</p><p>"I get that," Jesse said honestly, earning her a grin from Nell. "Well, if you ever wanna visit Em, she lives about two hours out of town on foot. She does a lot of farming now- though I'm sure her chickens live a very exciting life whenever we come visit," and Jesse had to smother a grin at the memory of Jace plowing into the chicken pen and chasing some very alarmed chickens around.</p><p>"Aw, that's rad, dude, I love chickens!" Nell grinned, before reaching out and clapping the spider hybrid on the back. "Man, that's <em>just</em> the warm welcome I'd hoped I'd get. You <em>rock</em>, Jesse dude."</p><p>Radar beamed at Jesse receiving the compliment, which was <em>kind of</em> adorable.</p><p>Nell plopped down on the front step of the surf shack, scratching a small mosquito bite on her shoulder absently. "Between you and me, though, I'm worried that I won't, like, fit in here... so many rad builds, <em>awesome</em> people... I really wanna make, like, a good first impression, you know?"</p><p>She quit scratching to give Jesse a hopeful sort of look. "<em>Which</em>, I <em>thought</em> might be helped if my front yard had a statue by the one and only Jesse?" she asked, gesturing at the sort of pedestal right next to her shop with clay piled high in it.</p><p>Jesse's lowest set of arms settled on her hips, while her topmost set of arms crossed thoughtfully. "Dunno how much time I've got... but I can definitely give it a go."</p><p>"Righteous, dude. Feel free to use the clay on there."</p><p>A song came onto the noteblock, and Nell absently started dancing to it, bobbing her head. She was so much more relaxed than in the past.</p><p>Jesse picked up all the clay and regarded the shop, looking back and forth between the pedestal and the shop, before stepping forward and starting to place it, bottom lip between her teeth. Radar watched, fixated; and within about ten minutes, Jesse had a respectable surfboard stuck in sand right where some 'water' was in front of what felt like a surf shop.</p><p>To be honest, Lukas could <em>probably</em> have pointed some stuff out, and Jace was better with small details, and Cassie would've provided nice advice, but what was done was done, and Jesse liked it enough.</p><p>Nell seemed to like it, too, so that was really what mattered. "That is some <em>sweet</em> work- <em>noice</em>." She turned to Jesse and threw her arms around the shorter girl in a tight hug, startling the much-shorter spider hybrid a little bit. "Oh, Jesse dude, <em>thanks!</em>"</p><p>"It was my pleasure," Jesse said, in a muffled voice from where her face was inadvertently squashed into Nell's shoulder.</p><p>Nell released her from the bear hug a moment later, to Jesse's relief (it was getting a wee bit difficult to breathe) and clapped her on the back. "Well it is an <em>honor</em>, mi amigo, and don't be a stranger, okay?"</p><p>Radar blinked after her as she left.</p><p>He looked to Jesse a full minute later. "Well, uh, she's a very... fascinating woman, isn't she?" he asked after a full minute, as if struggling to make any logical sense of Nell. "Very free-spirited."</p><p>Jesse grinned as Nell went back to dancing to the music disk. "Yeah. She's kinda like Petra, back in her early days."</p><p>Before things had changed.</p><p>Jesse shook off the thought and looked at Radar again. "You said Petra's at the-"</p><p>"Mineshaft. Mm-hm."</p><p>Jesse nodded and began to continue down main street.</p><p>Along the way, she spotted Cassie slipping through the alleyways- a habit that remained from the secret passages in the mansion. She tended to go ways that weren't obvious, or quietly slip through the alleys so that less people noticed.</p><p>Lukas had been concerned for a while, but she never hurt anyone, so Jesse figured that sometimes she just wanted to be alone.</p><p>There was abruptly an explosion of yapping at Jesse's feet- they jumped and looked down to see a little puppy excitedly running in circles around their feet.</p><p>Reuben would've loved to practice with it.</p><p>Reuben had been trying to teach himself to talk to other animals- mainly chickens, cats or ocelots, dogs, and even a bit of Spider- with surprising success.</p><p>Jesse <em>swore</em> that it was easier to learn when you were a kid, because she'd tried too and apparently had called Jace a "wet tiger" a few months ago in Wolf.</p><p>But Reuben was fairly proficient in all of the languages now- enough to at least understand most basic conversations.</p><p>"Oh! Wink, leave Jesse alone," Stacy tsked, coming over. Stampy was seated on a small ledge, swinging his legs back and forth; he perked up when he saw Jesse.</p><p>Jesse could see Cassie pause in the alleyway adjacent and look over. Pain crossed her face- and maybe a bit of fear.</p><p>Jesse glanced at Stacy and Stampy, who were both smiling upon seeing Jesse. She couldn't help but smile back. "Hey guys. It's good to see you."</p><p>"It's good to see you, too! Sorry about Wink- <em>Wink</em>-" Stacy tsked as the puppy kept bouncing about and yipping, but her eyes were soft.</p><p>"Uh... Cassie's... here too," Jesse said, shifting awkwardly.</p><p>Cassie went stiff, eyes going wide.</p><p>"Uh- oh! She's, uh, still around?" Stampy asked, eyes going a little wide.</p><p>Jesse looked over; Stacy and Stampy followed their eyes.</p><p>Cassie grimaced, then somehow managed to twist it into a weak little smile as she came over. "Um. Hi," she managed, through clenched teeth. She'd somehow gone pale enough that Jesse momentarily had to worry about her health- but she was maintaining a very painful-looking smile.</p><p>Stacy stared at Cassie through narrowed eyes. "So. Do people know she's the White Pumpkin?" she asked, voice having dropped in warmth as she stared at Cassie.</p><p>Radar's eyes went wide.</p><p>Cassie's shoulders slumped; Jesse took her hand with one of her lower sets. "It's... no, not yet," Jesse said, in a low voice.</p><p>Jesse had at least convinced Cassie that she'd have to be truthful <em>eventually</em>- and tell people, including Reuben and Radar and everyone- but ever since the incident, Cassie would have a near-breakdown the moment she came close to revealing it.</p><p>"Why not?" Stacy's voice had risen by a hair- not enough to for everyone passing by to look, but enough to make Stampy wince and twist his fingers.</p><p>Cassie opened her mouth to say something, but she faltered and looked down at the floor a moment later.</p><p>Jesse gave Cassie's shoulder a squeeze. "Well... it's up to Cassie to work up the nerve to... you know. Confess to it. When she feels like she can," Jesse said this simply.</p><p>Stacy scowled at that. "What, so she's too scared to admit it?"</p><p>"Wouldn't you be?"</p><p>Stacy opened her mouth to retort, then paused. The crease in her brow eased a little. "So... what, she's just going to come out one day with no warning and say it?"</p><p>"I'm thinking about how to say it," Cassie mumbled quietly- but loud enough that both Stacy and Stampy looked at her. Radar still looked like he was struggling to process.</p><p>Stampy twisted his fingers. "Well- uh- if Jesse trusts Cassie," he said, making Stacy and Radar look over at him, "I suppose I could give it a go..."</p><p>Jesse blinked.</p><p><em>Did</em> she trust Cassie? After all, the girl was a murderer- there was no getting around that fact.</p><p>But Cassie was also the girl who'd come in with her aunt and played with the spider hybrid. The girl who she'd used to cuddle with all the time. Practically a member of the family, at the time.</p><p>Cassie's eyes were fixed on the floor. Undoubtedly she'd been transported back to the incident.</p><p>And maybe she was just certain that Jesse would say that she didn't trust her, of <em>course</em> they didn't trust her, not after what she'd done-</p><p>Jesse's lower hands reached out and squeezed her hand; Cassie's eyes snapped up to look at them.</p><p>"I trust her to figure out the right thing," Jesse said honestly. "And I trust that she really does want to fix things. Cassie's not the same person she was back in the Twin Moon World. Actually, she feels more like the Cassie I used to know."</p><p>Cassie had two pink spots on her cheeks; Jesse spotted them and the smile on Cassie's face before Cassie ducked her head in embarrassment.</p><p>"Oh, did you know her before?"</p><p>"Well, technically, yeah, because when I was a kid I lived in a lab which was called the Bureau of Amalgamology, and the lab had scientists that had developed hybrids, so like me and the others, and Cassie's aunt was one of the scientists, and Cassie and I were friends, but then I got brainwashed into forgetting everything so I forgot that Cassie existed, but my memories came back when we reached the Twin Moons world and I remembered Cassie, and-"</p><p>Jesse broke off when she saw the blank looks on both Stampy and Stacy's faces.</p><p>"Yes, I knew her before," they summarized instead.</p><p>Stampy grinned shyly, twisting his fingers. "Ah- well- then that's settled, right?"</p><p>Stacy stared at Cassie, who stared back with trepidation on her face.</p><p>Then she sighed. "I'm willing to peacefully co-exist with her while she figures out what she's going to do. But if you so much as <em>look</em> at me and Stampy funny, I'll sic Wink on you," Stacy said, locking eyes with Cassie.</p><p>Cassie considered this, then nodded. "That sounds fair," she said, in a voice that Jesse- being a spider hybrid- could tell still tremored.</p><p>"That does feel like the hero thing to do," Radar said softly, as Cassie proceeded to move on hastily with an awkward "see ya", brushing her hand over her eyes. "To forgive the White Pumpkin..."</p><p>Jesse shook their head. "It's not just that," she said, making the YouTubers look at her. "Her motivation for hurting people was because she felt trapped, and that that was her only way out. She wasn't just killing people for the fun of it; she was genuinely scared and didn't know what to do."</p><p>Jesse paused. "Admittedly she was aggressive as all hell when we talked to her, but... I think even that stems from that feeling."</p><p>Their lower arms stretched slightly as Jesse continued, "I honestly don't think I would've brought her with us if I hadn't had those memories of her. She was my friend- at least for a while- and I was willing to at least try and <em>see</em> if the person she'd been as a kid was in there. But you don't forgive everyone unless they show that they're really willing to change."</p><p>Jesse thought back to when Cassie insisted she be put on 'house arrest' for six months upon first arriving back. Jace had been surprised, but Cassie had insisted on figuring things out and at least proving that.</p><p>(<em>The incident had happened somewhere near the very beginning, when her fear of being trapped was whispering in her ear and clawing her so that she was stretched far too thin and the thin threads in her head threatened to snap and</em>-)</p><p>Jesse shook off the thought. "But Cassie <em>has</em> shown that. And I'm willing to give her another chance to redeem herself."</p><p>With the fact that there were a few therapists and psychiatrists in Beacontown, Beacontown had the very unique approach of having therapists visit the criminals that the psychiatrists deemed potentially able to be redeemed and trying to help them. Cassie had been the very first to try it out.</p><p>Actually, she still saw a therapist on a weekly basis.</p><p>Jesse wouldn't forgive just anyone.</p><p>But if someone really, truly tried to make amends for what they'd done... Jesse saw no harm in giving them another chance.</p><p>And Cassie was one of those people.</p><p>(<em>Hadrian and Mevia </em>might<em> be as well, but to be fair Jesse had gotten in the habit of bringing a therapist to them every month to see if it helped.</em></p><p><em>Weirdly enough, it did actually seem to be helping.</em>)</p><p>Radar looked at Cassie, who had continued on ahead to look at a slimeblock that someone was bouncing on.</p><p>Then he looked back at Jesse. "Honestly... I think you're right. I can't see her being the White Pumpkin," he said, cracking a nervous smile.</p><p>"Think that was kind of the point," Stacy said drily, which prompted some nervous giggles from Stampy and Radar and a snort from Jesse.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Posting a story I wrote 4 years ago on AO3 finally?? Scandalous.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>